A medical transport jet transporting a child who had just completed treatment for a life-threatening condition, her mother and four others crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood shortly after takeoff Friday evening, exploding in a fireball that engulfed several homes.

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which operated the Learjet 55, said in a statement: “We cannot confirm any survivors.” There was no immediate word whether anyone on the ground was killed, but at least six people were treated for injuries at a hospital.

  • DominusOfMegadeus
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    497 days ago

    Is anyone else concerned that planes are suddenly falling out of the sky, or am I being paranoid?

    • @[email protected]
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      7 days ago

      This one didn’t collide with another plane, so there’s that at least. We’ll see when the NTSB report comes out, but crashes right after takeoff are usually caused either by bird collisions or mechanical failure.

      The first is sheer bad luck a lot of the time, but the latter is totally justified to worry about. So I tell myself, as it’s what I’m afraid of, hah.

    • @[email protected]
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      27 days ago

      Seems like they have a hard enough time avoiding each other on the ground to ever want to go up in the air.

  • @RedditsuxOP
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    297 days ago

    This is extremely sad. RIP.

  • halyk.the.red
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    107 days ago

    If it’s any consolation, the blast was so large and so quick that I doubt anyone on board felt anything past fear and confusion.

    • @Sanguine
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      -47 days ago

      I understand the sentiment here, so this isn’t directed at you, but I’ve never understood the at least they didn’t physically suffer idea. Sudden fear and confusion right before death is awful.

      • @[email protected]
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        27 days ago

        Think about all of the times where you’ve been scared instantly but things turned out alright. It would be exactly the same, except there’s nothing after it.

      • @TheDoozer
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        17 days ago

        Because it’s death. The best case scenario is no or limited anticipation, with no physical pain or suffering. The alternative is taking several minutes, hours, or days to die, with each breath being agony. “At least” pretty directly says it is the least you could hope for, given the circumstances.

      • halyk.the.red
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        77 days ago

        Given the situation, the fear and confusion was a given. The instant death is a mercy. They could have had the fear and confusion, then slowly burned to death with bones too broken to undo their seatbelts.