Passenger captures the moment an United Airlines plane gets filled with smoke after engine issue and the following evacuation on slides at Houston airport, Feb. 2, 2025. (Ashlyn Sharp)
(HOUSTON) — Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York were evacuated before takeoff on Sunday due to engine issues, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
No injuries were reported, according to the Houston Fire Department, which was assisting at the scene.
The FAA said takeoff was “safely aborted” due to a “reported engine issue.”
“Passengers deplaned on the runway and were bused to the terminal,” the FAA said in a statement.
United Airlines confirmed the incident, saying passengers evacuated the aircraft “via a combination of slides and stairs.”
In one video taken by a passenger, smoke could be seen coming out of the plane.
In another video, passengers were seen deplaning via the aircraft’s evacuation slide.
One passenger, Kelcie Davis, called it a “terrifying experience” in a post she shared on TikTok.
“Engine blew out right as our wheels were leaving the ground,” Davis said. “Plane lost control on the runway for a few seconds, but thank god our pilot was able to get the plane back under control. Only one slide was working for the entire plane to evacuate.”
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Camilla Alcini contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s administration is filling one of the State Department’s top positions with a controversial conservative journalist who has promoted conspiracy theories related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and was fired as a speechwriter by the first Trump administration when it was revealed that he had spoken at a conference tied to White nationalists, sources familiar with the move told ABC News.
The sources said that the man, Darren Beattie, will now be the acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a so-called “Top 10” position that, as the State Department’s website describes it, “leads America’s public diplomacy outreach, which includes messaging to counter terrorism and violent extremism.”
“The Under Secretary oversees the bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs and Global Public Affairs, and participates in foreign policy development,” the website adds.
Beattie is slated to start in the position on Monday, sources said. He was already serving in another senior role within the State Department, but the new move to such a high-level position has raised concerns among many of its employees, sources said.
More than two years ago, Beattie launched a right-wing media outlet called Revolver News, which has raised funds in part by selling pro-Trump apparel and merchandise.
“It’s OK to deny 2020,” reads two shirts still being sold on the outlet’s website. Another shirt promotes the refuted claim that Jan. 6, 2021, was an “FBI setup to frame Trump supporters as insurrectionists,” as the shirt says.
And Beattie has become a frequent guest on other right-wing media, often promoting conspiracy theories related to Jan. 6.
On Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast last month, Beattie repeated his claims that the FBI knows who’s behind the pipe bombs left at DNC and RNC offices on Jan. 6 but “what they found out was profoundly embarrassing to the government and to the narrative that the Biden regime wanted to promote, and so instead of following that investigation further, they basically just killed it,” Beattie said.
Beattie also claimed that surveillance video released by the FBI to seek help in identifying the perpetrator was “clearly tampered with.”
In mid-August 2018, he made national headlines, with the Washington Post reporting then that he “was terminated last week after revelations that he had spoken at a conference attended by well-known white nationalists” two years earlier.
According to the Washington Post, Beattie – who is Jewish – insisted that he was not racist and said in a statement.
“In 2016 I attended the [H.L. Mencken Club] conference in question and delivered a stand-alone, academic talk titled ‘The Intelligentsia and the Right.’ I said nothing objectionable and stand by my remarks completely,” the statement said. “It was the honor of my life to serve in the Trump Administration. I love President Trump, who is a fearless American hero, and continue to support him one hundred percent.”
At the end of the Trump administration, in November 2020, the Trump White House appointed Beattie to a three-year term with the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, which helps preserve sites related to the Holocaust.
The Anti-Defamation League strongly objected to the appointment, issuing a statement at the time saying, “It is absolutely outrageous that someone who has consorted with racists would even be considered for a position on a commission devoted to preserving Holocaust memorials in Europe.”
The New York Times then asked Beattie for comment, and he told the paper: “The ADL pretends to be an organization that protects Jews, but it really exists to protect Democrats. As a Jewish Trump supporter, I consider it an honor to be attacked by the far-left ADL and its disgraced leader, Jonathan Greenblatt.”
Asked about Beattie’s new position at the State Department, a White House spokesperson referred ABC News to the State Department. First reached on Friday, the State Department has so far not commented.
On Sunday, Beattie did not immediately respond to a request for comment by ABC News.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Amid ongoing turmoil inside the U.S. Agency for International Development, sources told ABC News that Department of Government Efficiency staffers have moved to take over offices, escalating tensions as more senior staff members are locked out of internal systems, additional employees are placed on administrative leave, and the agency’s newly appointed chief of staff resigned as the Elon Musk-led agency works to assert control over the USAID, which oversees foreign aid, disaster relief and international development programs.
On Friday night, a dramatic scene played out when a group of individuals who identified themselves as State Department employees and DOGE representatives arrived at the USAID offices in the Ronald Reagan Building and demanded immediate access to every office, according to sources familiar with the incident. It is unclear what legal authority, if any, DOGE representatives have to make such demands.
“It looked like people who dressed up for their first job interview,” a source said.
After initially being denied entry, the group told security guards that if they were not granted entry, they would call the U.S. Marshals Service, sources said. The guards ultimately complied, the source said.
Two top security officials at USAID were placed on administrative leave after they refused to comply on Saturday amid the ongoing turmoil at the agency, sources told ABC News.
Sources told ABC News that more USAID employees were also placed on administration leave, and many were locked out of internal systems amid clashes with DOGE representatives working to take over the agency.
Amid the upheaval, USAID Chief of Staff Matt Hopson resigned just days after Trump appointed him to the position, sources said. It was not immediately clear if Hopson’s resignation was due to changes inside the agency.
However, Musk has been joining USIAD staff calls during the week amid the shakeup at the agency, according to a source familiar with the matter. And as reports emerged over clashes inside USAID, Musk unloaded a barrage of attacks against the agency across his social media platform, X.
“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” Musk wrote in one post.
When shown Musk’s posts on X targeting USAID, a senior official for the agency told ABC News, “The warp-speed of this mafia-like takeover has shaken USAID staff to the core.”
“We are not criminals. Where are Republican Senators like Senator Graham and Risch who have supported the good work of this agency in the past? Will they speak out?” the official asked. “Yes, USAID needs reform, like all agencies, but we’d expect this to come with a degree of thought and involvement from Congress.”
Inside the Ronald Reagan Building, posters and flags featuring USAID were taken down and stacked in hallways, sources who were in the building told ABC News. Some USAID employees who were placed on administrative leave had their ID badges and work computers seized, the sources said.
In response to reports on DOGE’s activity at USAID, DOGE spokesperson Katie Miller wrote on X, “No classified material was accessed without proper security clearances.” The USAID press office did not respond when asked for comment.
The group gained access to USAID’s internal systems on Friday, including the agency’s website and several critical databases, according to sources familiar with the matter. Among the systems was the Development Evaluation Clearinghouse, which houses reports on past and ongoing USAID programs, as well as the Development Information Solution (DIS) — a system used to track congressionally mandated and performance-related data for all USAID programs worldwide.
Sources also said that the group also seized control of a software system called Phoenix, a program for USAID’s financial management system used to track and manage the agency’s budgeting, accounting and financial transactions. The system was down over the weekend, sources said, which has sent shockwaves across contractors for USAID who are fearful they won’t be paid for their work. Major firms that manage global supply chains, including those for initiatives like antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other essential medicines to combat HIV/AIDS, rely on Phoenix.
Sources told ABC News the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts are being overseen by Peter Marocco, a campaign ally in the Office of Foreign Assistance who was reportedly caught on camera inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sources also told ABC News that Trump ally Mark Kevin Lloyd has been placed as acting assistant administrator for the Bureau of Conflict Prevention and Stabilization (CPS) at USAID, which oversees a considerable budget. Lloyd, a Tea Party activist, was Trump’s Virginia field director in 2016 and later appointed USAID religious freedom adviser in 2020.
The chaos inside the agency has led those familiar with USAID to question whether the overhaul of the agency marks the end of U.S. international development efforts or a strategic consolidation of resources under the State Department. Some see the potential for the administration to leverage USAID’s existing infrastructure — its contracting officers, global footprint and established contract mechanisms — to rapidly redirect aid programs in a way that far exceeds the capacity of the State Department.
After the USAID website went dark on Saturday, the agency’s chief information officer sent an internal email stating that the website is “currently unavailable” and that they have no information on when it will be restored, according to an email obtained by ABC News.
“M/CIO is informing users that USAID.gov is currently unavailable. We will send a follow-up notice once there is more information. At this time there is no update on when the site will be available,” the email, which was sent Saturday evening, reads.
A source told ABC News that these notices would typically detail that the team is working to restore access, but that was missing from this notice.
Some staff are taking the “no update” on when the site will be brought back as “a decision made to turn out the (internet) lights.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — Investigators have located the engines and cockpit voice recorder from the small medical transport jet that crashed in Philadelphia Friday evening, killing seven people.
The jet, which was carrying a child and her mother along with four other people, was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery “high-impact” crash.
The Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, took off at 6:06 p.m. Friday, climbed to about 1,500 feet and then rapidly descended, according to National Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Hicks.
“The entire flight lasted less than a minute,” Hicks said.
All six people aboard the jet died in the crash, including the child, who had just received care from Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia and was returning home to Mexico with her mother. There were also four crew members on board. All were Mexican citizens, according to a statement from the Mexican government.
NTSB investigators announced on Sunday that the aircraft’s engines and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) had been recovered from the crash.
The CVR was located at the site of initial impact, at a depth of eight feet, according to investigators.
The airplane’s enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), which could also contain flight data was recovered Sunday as well, officials said. Both components will be sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, D.C., for evaluation.
During a Sunday morning news conference, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said all those aboard the jet were Mexican citizens.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance identified those aboard the crashed jet as 11-year-old pediatric patient Valentina Guzman Murillo and her 31-year-old mother, Lizeth Murillo Ozuna; Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo, paramedic Lopez Padilla, flight Capt. Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales and co-pilot Josue De Jesus Juarez Juarez.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said Montoya Perales, 46, had worked for the company since 2016, and that 43-year-old Juarez Juarez had been with the company since December 2023. Arredondo, 41, has been flying with the air ambulance company since 2020 and 41-year-old Padilla has been with the company since November 2023.
The mayor of Ensenada, Mexico, a city in the state of Baja California, confirmed two of the victims as Valentina Guzman Murillo and her mother.
Ensenada government officials said the plane was bound for Tijuana, Mexico. The plane was scheduled to make a stopover in Springfield, Missouri, before continuing to Tijuana, officials said.
In addition to those aboard the aircraft, at least one person in a vehicle died in the crash. The identity of the person has not been disclosed.
Parker said Sunday that the number of people injured on the ground had risen from 19 to 22. She said five people remained hospitalized as of Sunday, including three in critical condition.
There was no indication of a problem radioed from the flight deck of the jet back to air traffic control before the crash, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters. “In fact, in the recording that we have, there is an attempt by air traffic controllers to get a response from the flight crew that they didn’t receive,” she said.
The NTSB has classified the crash as an accident.
The “high-impact” crash left debris scattered across four to five city blocks, Homendy said.
At least five homes caught fire in the aftermath of the crash, Philadelphia officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is assisting in the investigation.
The crash of the medical jet came just two days after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
Homendy said her agency is able to carry out both investigations simultaneously.
“We are a highly skilled agency,” she said, adding that it’s not unusual for the board to investigate two incidents.
In a message posted on X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the back-to-back disasters a “heart-wrenching week.”
Regarding the Philadelphia crash, Duffy said, “We’re not going to have answers right away. It’s going to take time. But as I get those answers, I’m going to share it with all of you.”
ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Treasury Department has given Elon Musk and representatives of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team access to the vast federal payment system responsible for handling trillions of dollars in government expenditures, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The payment system — which is essentially a checkbook for the entire federal government — is a closely held operation run by career officials, with a limited number of people authorized to access the information given it contains sensitive information about hundreds of millions of Americans.
The demand for access to the payment system reportedly caused such a rift inside the Treasury Department that the career official who previously oversaw it, David Lebryk, was placed on administrative leave last week after he resisted granting Musk and his government efficiency team access to the database.
On Friday, Lebryk told colleagues at the department he would be retiring, sources told ABC News.
If Musk or his team were to attempt to block these payments, it would likely face legal challenges given the money is approved by Congress.
Sources said that if Musk or his representatives were to request that changes be made to the system, such requests would be subject to an internal review process by Treasury Department officials.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said that any “politically-motivated meddling” in the payment systems “risks severe damage to our country and the economy.”
“To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy. I am deeply concerned that following the federal grant and loan freeze earlier this week, these officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs,” Wyden wrote in a Friday evening letter.
“I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, missioncritical systems,” Wyden wrote.
Spokespeople for DOGE, the White House and Treasury didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) sent a message to its members on Sunday about the 12-question survey sent to some of its employees asking about their work related to investigating the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“We understand that this feels like agents and employees are being targeted, despite repeated assurances that ‘all FBI employees will be protected against political retribution,'” the message states. “Employees carrying out their duties to investigate allegations of criminal activity with integrity and within the rule of law should never be treated as those who have engaged in actual misconduct.”
The 12-question survey asks FBI employees to choose a response or responses that apply to each question by selecting from a menu of options provided in the survey.
One question in the survey permits an “other” response and provides a text box in which to respond. FBIAA is recommending responding agents include specific language in this text box indicating they are “required to respond” to the survey, they are responding to the best of their ability based on current knowledge “without being afforded appropriate time to research” answers or speak with counsel or representation and that they have not been advised of their rights in this matter.
Additionally, FBIAA recommends employees include language indicating that, “To the best of my ability and belief, I have performed my duties in accordance with the DIOG, federal statutes and the Constitution of the United States and the matters I worked on were properly predicated under DIOG and were opened and investigated at the direction of the Department of Justice.”
The FBIAA on its website describes its mission as advancing and safeguarding “the careers, economic interests, conditions of employment and welfare of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Agents and retired FBI Agents.”
The FBIAA message also notes that today marks the four-year anniversary of the line of duty deaths of two FBI Special Agents who were shot and killed while executing a search warrant in Florida.
“Adding insult to injury is that four years ago today, we lost two incredible FBI agents, Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, doing the meaningful, yet dangerous work that our members do every day. We remember how dark and tragic that day was. Today, we continue to remember and honor them, their families, friends, and colleagues. While it is nearly impossible to block out the noise right now, we are reminded that like Dan and Laura, we do the jobs we do because it is a calling to protect and serve – and that we believe in protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution of the United States,” the message states.
The message closes with a sober, but measured tone about the uncertainty surrounding what these recent actions by the Trump Justice Department may mean for employees, stating, “We continue to hear rumors of dismissals/security revocations, or individuals who have been told to expect dismissals on Monday. Again, we have no confirmation of any such events. Please be cautious in sharing and spreading what could be misinformation. We do not need any more stress on those potentially impacted.”
On Friday, several sources told ABC New that the Trump administration is compiling a list of agents and other FBI officials from around the country who they believe should be fired or forced to resign in the coming days.
Firings were expected to begin as early as Friday, but a list was expected to be finalized on Monday, sources said.
The list of those who could be fired includes the heads of dozens of field offices across the country and could include scores of agents in the FBI’s Washington, D.C., Field Office alone, sources said.
An FBI spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News: “The FBI is declining to comment on any questions regarding FBI personnel matters. We have also instructed the public affairs officers in our field offices to decline to comment as well.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Health and Human Services directed recipients of grant funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to immediately halt all programs, personnel and activities related to “gender ideology,” according to an email obtained by ABC News.
“You must immediately terminate, to the maximum extent, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting or inculcating gender ideology at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award,” the email stated.
It also said that “any vestige, remnant, or re-named piece of any gender ideology programs funded by the U.S. government under this award are immediately, completely, and permanently terminated.”
The email from HHS follows President Donald Trump’s executive order — Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism And Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government — which directed the federal government to recognize only two sexes: male and female.
The latest directive from the HHS impacts any entity that receives CDC funds, such as local health departments and clinics across the country, and it affects any programs supported by the nearly $4.5 billion spent by the CDC last year to aid health departments across all 50 states.
HHS sent a similar memo to recipients specifically receiving foreign assistance funds regarding DEI programs. That memo said, “You must immediately terminate, to the maximum, all programs, personnel, activities, or contracts promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEl) at every level and activity, regardless of your location or the citizenship of employees or contractors, that are supported with funds from this award,” according to a copy obtained by ABC News.
ABC News previously reported a memo that was sent to HHS officials on Wednesday directing sub-agencies such as the CDC to remove “all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by 5 p.m. on Friday.
As of Friday evening, government webpages on HIV, LGBTQ+ issues and public health were taken down, according to a subsequent report by ABC News.
(WASHINGTON) — President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico plans on Monday to announce her country’s “Plan B” response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imported goods.
Trump told reporters he would speak on Monday with Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, prior to imposing import tariffs on their goods. The U.S. president is expected to sign executive orders on Tuesday putting in place 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on those from China, according to the White House.
Sheinbaum in a video posted to social media on Sunday said her government was calling for “reason and law” among “individuals as well as among nations.”
‘This measure of 25% tariffs has effects for both countries but it has very serious effects for the U.S. economy,” she said, “because it will raise the costs of all the products that are exported from Mexico to the U.S., it will have a 25% higher cost.”
Trudeau responded to the planned tariffs on Saturday evening, announcing his country will implement 25% tariffs on 155 billion Canadian dollars, or about $107 billion, of U.S. goods. The prime minister said he has not talked to Trump since his inauguration.
Sheinbaum, who was elected in June, offered little detail on how her government’s “Plan B” would respond to the tariffs.
She instructed her economic secretary to “implement Plan B that we have been working on, which includes tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico’s interests,” she said in a statement written in Spanish and translated by ABC News.
She also sought to remind the White House that the current trade free agreements between the U.S. and Mexico have been in place for about three decades.
“The last free trade agreement was signed by President López Obrador and President Trump himself,” she said.
Trump on Sunday told reporters he was unconcerned about the potential impact of imposing tariffs on close trading partners, saying the American people would understand.
“We may have short term, some, a little pain, and people understand that, but, long term, the United States has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world,” he told reporters on Sunday, as he departed Air Force One at Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews.
He added, “We have deficits with almost every country, not every country, but almost. And we’re going to change it. It’s been unfair. That’s why we owe $36 trillion we have deficits with everybody.”
Canada has been taking advantage of the U.S., Trump said, calling the relationship with the country a “one-way street.”
“They don’t allow our banks. Did you know that Canada does not allow banks to go in, if you think about it, that’s pretty amazing,” he said. “If we have a U.S. bank, they don’t allow them to go in.”
Trump added, “Canada has been very tough on oil, on energy. They don’t allow our farm products in. Essentially, they don’t allow a lot of things in, and we allow everything to come in. It’s been a one-way street.”
ABC News’ Matt Rivers, Max Zahn, Kelsey Walsh, Victoria Beaule and William Gretsky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — With a committee vote scheduled Tuesday for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Senate Democrats are demanding more details on the nominee’s connections to vaccine lawsuits and are saying Kennedy should promise to recuse himself from any vaccine-related decisions if confirmed health secretary.
The demands came in letter released Monday by Sens. Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren, after Kennedy told the lawmakers that he planned to divest his financial stake in one ongoing vaccine lawsuit to his adult son who practices law in California.
The description matches that of his son, Connor Kennedy, who is an attorney at Wisner Baum, a California-based law firm that is representing plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit against Gardasil, a vaccine intended to protect against HPV and deemed safe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Warren and Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, called the arrangement of allowing his son to collect future referral fees in the lawsuit “troubling” and “plainly inadequate.”
“The arrangement outlined in your Ethics Agreement Amendment is plainly inadequate, as it would appear to allow an immediate family member to benefit financially from your position as Secretary,” wrote Wyden, D-Ore., and Warren, D-Mass.
It’s not clear whether the letter released Monday by the Democrats would impact Kennedy’s confirmation as health secretary, which could still be pushed through by the Republican majority. It is possible, however, that Republican senators with concerns about Kennedy’s nomination — including Sen. Bill Cassidy — could use the Democrats’ request to slow the confirmation process.
“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Cassidy, R.-La., a medical doctor, said in his opening remarks during a hearing last week on Kennedy’s nomination.
He added, “Can I trust that that is now in the past? Can data and information change your opinion? Or will you only look for data supporting a predetermined conclusion? This is imperative.”
The Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Cassidy, is scheduled to vote Tuesday on Kennedy’s nomination.
Warren and Wyden said they couldn’t trust Kennedy’s financial disclosures were “accurate and complete” because they don’t lay out how many cases Kennedy referred to Wisner Baum and whether vaccines were involved.
Wisner Baum has said it has not paid the nominee for any vaccine-related cases, as the current Gardasil case is ongoing.
Wyden and Warren said any involvement is a direct conflict of interest if he were to become health secretary because of his oversight of vaccines.
“By using your authority and bully pulpit as Secretary to sway the outcome of the litigation and secure a big judgment or settlement, you would increase the chances of a large payout for yourself,” they wrote.
(PHILADELPHIA) — A small medical transport jet carrying a child and her mother along with four other people was in the air for less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport before coming down in a fiery “high-impact” crash near a busy mall Friday evening.
The Learjet 55, operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, took off at 6:06 p.m. Friday, climbed to about 1,500 feet in the air and then rapidly descended, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Bill Hicks told reporters during a press briefing Saturday.
“The entire flight lasted less than a minute,” Hicks said.
All six people aboard the jet died in the crash, including the child, who had just received care from Shriner’s Hospital in Philadelphia and was returning home with her mother. There were also four crew members on board. All were Mexican citizens, according to a statement from the Mexican government.
In addition to those aboard the aircraft, at least one person in a vehicle died in the crash, and there were at least 19 other people on the ground — in parking lots, in cars and nearby homes — were injured, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said in an earlier press briefing Saturday.
There was no indication of a problem radioed from the flight deck of the jet back to Air Traffic Control before the crash, NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters. “In fact, in the recording that we have, there is an attempt by air traffic controllers to get a response from the flight crew that they didn’t receive,” she said.
The NTSB has classified the crash as an accident.
The “high-impact” crash left debris scattered across four to five city blocks, Homendy said. Investigators have yet to recover the jet’s black box, which she said may have been damaged or destroyed.
“It could be intact,” she said. “But likely it is damaged. It may be fragmented.”
Philadelphia residents or business owners who find debris should email the NTSB at witness@ntsb.gov, Homendy said.
Earlier, the mayor said residents could also call 911 if they come across airplane debris.
Investigators will spend several days and, possibly, weeks collecting debris from the scene, the NTSB chair said.
At least five homes caught fire in the aftermath of the crash, Philadelphia officials said.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
The crash of the medical jet came just two days after an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional American Airlines jet near Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.
Homendy said her agency is able to carry out both investigations simultaneously.
“We are a highly skilled agency,” she said, adding that it’s not unusual for the board to investigate two incidents.
In a message posted on social media platform X, U.S. Transportation Sean Duffy called the back-to-back disasters a “heart-wrenching week.”
Regarding the Philadelphia crash, Duffy said, “We’re not going to have answers right away. It’s going to take time. But as I get those answers, I’m going to share it with all of you.”
