Washington: Following a recent mid-air collision in Washington, D.C., that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, the U.S. faced another tragic incident on Friday evening when a small aircraft crashed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, setting several homes ablaze.
The aircraft was reportedly a medical flight carrying six individuals. According to CBS News, multiple homes caught fire in a neighborhood near Roosevelt Boulevard and Cottman Avenue. Local news source Phillyburbs.com reported that witnesses on social media described seeing an orange flash near Roosevelt Mall, an outdoor shopping center off the boulevard, which is known as Route 1 as it traverses the city toward Bucks County.
Emergency services indicated that the crash occurred near the 7200 block of Calvert Street, a residential area, shortly after 6 p.m. on Friday.
Meanwhile, authorities in Washington, D.C., confirmed that they had recovered 41 bodies from the earlier mid-air collision involving an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, and a Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission from a nearby military base. The passenger plane was approaching Reagan Washington National Airport, a major hub handling around 800 flights daily, when it collided with the military helicopter, which had three U.S. service members onboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board, leading the investigation into the crash, has halted all helicopter flights over the Potomac River, which flows adjacent to the Reagan Washington National Airport.