PHILADELPHIA – A Medevac jet crashed in a residential area of Northeast Philadelphia Friday evening, causing an explosion that briefly lit up the sky as horrified residents took cover in their homes.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance confirmed its aircraft had crashed in Philadelphia with four crew members, a pediatric patient and the child's escort. Shriners Children's hospital in Philadelphia said the child was with her mother.

"Shriners Children’s is heartbroken to confirm that one of our pediatric patients and the child’s mother were aboard the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance that crashed in Philadelphia this evening," the hospital said in a statement. "The patient had received care from Shriners Children’s Philadelphia and was being transported back to her home country in Mexico on a contracted air ambulance when the crash happened."

The Learjet aircraft crashed near a residential street. Local news broadcasts aired doorbell cam video from nearby homes that showed a bright yellow blast above a housing district, moments after the plane plummeted at high speed to the ground.

Witnesses on social media said they saw an orange flash near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping center off the boulevard that is surrounded by homes.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that the Learjet 55 crashed around 6:30 p.m. with six people on board. The jet departed from Northeast Philadelphia Airport and was headed to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri.

The crash in Philadelphia comes in the wake of the horrific midair collision on Wednesday night in Washington D.C. that killed 67 people. The collision of an Army helicopter and American Airlines plane in the nation's capital was the deadliest U.S. passenger air crash in over two decades.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said some homes and vehicles in the area of the crash were on fire. The number of casualties is unconfirmed, she added. The mayor asked residents to stay away from the scene and any debris.

“Right now we’re just asking for prayers for anyone and everyone who might be affected,” Parker said.

Both Parker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro stressed a message of unity in the face of tragedy. “What you’re seeing here is a unified response to an awful aviation disaster,” Shapiro said.

Parker said she could not confirm the number of fatalities despite the statement of the jet company that said there were no survivors on the plane.

The Red Cross announced after the fiery explosion that it opened a shelter at a high school for displaced residents, and a team of disaster workers was on scene.

A Temple University Health spokeswoman Friday night said the hospital system's Jeanes campus received six people injured in the plane crash. Three victims were treated and released, and three others are in fair condition. The spokeswoman could not provide additional information about the injuries.

Shapiro wrote on X that he has spoken with Parker about the crash, and his office is in contact with local officials.

“We are offering all Commonwealth resources as they respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly,” Shapiro wrote. "We’ll continue to provide updates as more information is available."

Jet Rescue spokesman Shai Gold confirmed late Friday that all six people aboard the jet were Mexican nationals including a child patient, the child’s mother, flight doctor, paramedic, pilot, and copilot.

The company was contracted to transport the child from Philadelphia to Tijuana, Mexico, Gold said, but he could not provide any personal information about the child including an age. Shriner's Hospital Philadelphia said they had been treating the girl and celebrated her with a sendoff Friday before the flight, according to an interview a hospital representative gave to CBS3 in Philadelphia.

Gold confirmed a third-party charitable organization paid for the flight, but he couldn’t divulge the name of the organization.

“Our heart goes out to the families,” Gold said. “It’s really an irreplaceable loss.”

The company previously experienced a fatal crash in 2023 in Mexico where five crew members were lost, but no patients, Gold said.

The LearJet 55 is one of the largest available and Jet Rescue is among the few air ambulance companies that use them because they are expensive, but an “exceptionally reliable jet.”

Jet Rescue flies 600 to 700 flights a year around the world. The number of trips the LearJet 55 took the five days before the crash is not unusual, Gold said.

He added that the company training for its crew exceeds the industry standard. He added the airplanes in its fleet are “well-maintained” and safety is taken extremely seriously calling each flight a “holy mission.”

“Every flight is like it’s the first flight we ever did,” Gold said. “If a red light goes on in the cockpit, the plane is grounded no matter where it is.”

- Jo Ciavaglia

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he has briefed President Donald Trump and Shapiro on the crash.

"So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls lost," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Our people are totally engaged. First Responders are already being given credit for doing a great job. More to follow. God Bless you all."

The FAA said it will assist the National Transportation Safety Board with the investigation.

Latrice Jackson and her adult daughter Channing Jackson, both residents of Northeast Philadelphia, said they were driving on Roosevelt Boulevard when the plane went down.

"I had never seen so many police cars in my life," Latrice Jackson said.

The two said they live only a mile from the crash scene.

"It's scary. This is a neighborhood with a lot of residents and it's too close to home after the other crash," Channing Jackson said, referring to the midair collision in Washington D.C.

"It worries me," she added, her eyes drawn to the sky.

Timothy Stauffer was at home when he heard a massive boom on Friday evening.

“It sounded like they dropped a bomb,” Stauffer said.

He quickly drove around the corner to find a huge cloud of fire and smoke rising above the busy stretch of Roosevelt Boulevard, a wide highway that runs through the city.

“All this was cloudy, smoky, couldn’t see and then all the EMS and authorities came and started locking things down,” Stauffer said as he pointed toward the crash site from the police perimeter.

According to the online flight-tracking service Flight Aware, the red and white plane is a 43-year-old Learjet 55 registered to Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which has operations in Miami and Mexico.

In recent days, the plane had passed through airports in Mexico, Haiti, Florida and Arizona. On the company's website, the plane is featured in a video explaining how Jet Rescue can extract patients worldwide and is shown in the air as the video touts the company's "impeccable safety record."

USA TODAY has reached out to Jet Rescue for comment.

Philadelphia resident Michael Hitchner was sitting in a parked car when the plane crashed nearby. He said he used his shirt to try to stop the bleeding from a cut on the head of a child who was injured by a piece of debris that fell through a car's windshield.

"The parents were shouting, 'Help us, help us, help us!'" Hitchner said. He added that he and his wife saw other carnage as well. "My wife saw a disembodied foot. I saw a disembodied arm. I saw medical supplies scattered everywhere," Hitchner said.

"It was a very shocking and disturbing experience, seeing everything that happened. I got home. I threw up twice."

- Jim Walsh

Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY; Jim Walsh, USA TODAY Network

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Medevac jet crashes in Philly neighborhood; explosion lights up sky