NEW YORK – A small plane crashed in a neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia on Friday, sparking a large fire, authorities said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had reported only two people aboard the plane, but later updated the number to six. It’s unclear whether the passengers were ejected or managed to escape. Several people on the ground were reported to have been injured.
The Learjet 55 plane, en route from Philadelphia for Springfield, Missouri, had just taken off from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport when the tragedy happened, said the FAA in a statement. It came down in a busy intersection near Roosevelt Mall in a densely populated residential area. The crash set multiple homes and cars on fire.
Emergency crews are responding to the fire on site, CBS News reported.
“We are offering all resources as (emergency services) respond to the small private plane crash in Northeast Philly,” Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro wrote on the social platform X. “We’ll continue to provide updates as more information is available.”
The FAA confirmed that the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the crash.
The crash came just days after a deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter over Washington, D.C., which claimed 67 lives, marking the deadliest airplane crash in the United States since 2009.
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