Updated February 02, 2025 at 20:25 PM ET
Investigators have recovered the voice recorder from the cockpit of the medical transport jet that crashed shortly after takeoff near a Philadelphia shopping center on Friday night.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday that the recording device, commonly called a black box, was located at the site of initial impact, at a depth of 8 feet. Authorities also retrieved the plane's enhanced ground proximity warning system, which could contain flight data.
The NTSB said both components will be sent to a lab in Washington, D.C., for evaluation. Wreckage recovery will continue through Monday.
The black box was a critical piece of the aircraft that investigators were searching for.
All six people on board — including a child patient, the patient's mother, two medical personnel and two pilots — and one person who was inside a car were killed in the crash. At least 19 people on the ground were injured.
The plane's operator, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, identified those on board as Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales; co-pilot Josue De Jesus Juarez Juarez; pediatrician Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo; paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla; the child patient Valentina Guzman Murillo; and Lizeth Murillo Ozuna, the child's mother — all of whom were Mexican nationals.
The medical jet was heading to Missouri from the Northeast Philadelphia Airport when it crashed near Roosevelt Mall around 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday. City officials said the plane was in the air for only a minute before it plummeted to the ground.
Eyewitnesses described seeing an explosion in the shape of a mushroom cloud, member station WHYY reported, while videos and photos of the aftermath showed a long stretch of a Philadelphia neighborhood in flames and covered in debris. Five fires erupted following the crash and have since been extinguished, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Jeffrey Thompson said Saturday.
City officials did not say how many of those injured were in critical condition. The number of victims in the crash may change in the coming days, according to the city's managing director, Adam Thiel.
"This is still a very active and fluid situation," Thiel said on Saturday. "It will likely be days or more until we are able to definitively answer the question about the number of folks who perished in this tragedy and the outcome for those who are injured."
Thiel said the area of impact was roughly four to six blocks, but debris was widespread and authorities are still assessing what areas were affected.
"It's possible that if you are somewhere not even near here, somewhere between this location and Northeast Airport, you may go out and find something in your yard," he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will be leading the investigation.
What we know about the victims on the aircraft
The child patient had finished treatment for an illness at Shriners Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and was returning to Mexico, according to the hospital.
The six people were flying in a Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which specializes in air ambulances across Mexico, Latin America and the U.S.
Shai Gold, the spokesperson for Jet Rescue, told NPR that the company was contracted by a third-party charitable organization to bring the child home to Tijuana.
On Friday night, President Trump also expressed his condolences to the victims of the crash.
"So sad to see the plane go down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More innocent souls lost. Our people are totally engaged. First Responders are already being given credit for doing a great job. More to follow. God Bless you all," he wrote on Truth Social.
The crash came just two days after 67 people were killed in a midair collision between American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. That crash is considered the deadliest U.S. aviation disaster in over two decades.
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