Feb. 2 (UPI) — The six people aboard a medical jet, including the pediatric patient, that crashed shortly upon takeoff in North Philadelphia on Friday have been identified.
A spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said Sunday they were all Mexican citizens, including the 11-year-old girl, Alentina Guzman Murillo, who was accompanied by her 31-year-old mother Lizeth Murillo Ozuna.
Also killed were Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales, 46, and Copilot Josue de Jesus Juarez Juarez, 43, along with Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo and paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla, both 41.
“It’s extremely hard and extremely difficult, those that were involved directly in her care were very aware that she was going to be traveling home and there had actually been a sendoff for her today,” Mel Bower, a spokesperson for the hospital, said Friday night.
Twin-engine Learjet 55 crashed about 30 seconds after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport at 6:30 p.m. EST. Several homes were set on fire.
A person on the ground in a vehicle also died.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said Sunday that the number of injured victims increased from 20 to 22 individuals. Parker said five remain hospitalized, three of whom are in critical condition.
The girl recently finished treatment at Shriners Children’s Hospital.
NTSB officials said the medical jet departed from a base in Florida around noon and arrived in Northeast Philadelphia around 2:15 p.m. The jet was headed to Springfield, Mo., with the final destination in Tijuana, Mexico.
The National Transportation Safety Board said investigators are still looking for the plane’s cockpit voice recorder.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters there was no indication of a problem radioed to air traffic control before the crash.
The crash left debris scattered across four to five city blocks near Roosevelt Mall.
It was two days after the most deadly aircraft crash in 24 years about 150 miles away: 64 aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 and an Army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers that collided and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted in a video message on X it was a “heart-wrenching week.”