The black box belonging to a Learjet 55 ambulance aircraft that crashed in Philadelphia has been found by investigators at a depth of eight feet.
Officials from the National Transport Safety Bureau (NTSB) hope the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) will shed light on what caused the tragedy on January 31, 2025.
Additionally, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker announced that a seventh victim of the crash has been confirmed.
The deceased was in a car at the time of the crash while two passengers in the same vehicle suffered severe, life-threatening injuries.
The number of injured victims has risen to 22 people with five victims still hospitalized – three of them are critical.
Thank you to the hundreds of firefighters & first responders on the ground in my district ensuring the safety of Northeast Philadelphia. Our city is one of heroes who run toward danger. I’ve been on the ground monitoring. My office is open over the weekend to help those impacted. pic.twitter.com/xLWs34ukXt
— Jared Solomon (@JaredGSolomon) February 1, 2025
“Today we learned that a seventh person lost their life in this devastating event that has stunned the many citizens living in Northeast Philadelphia, specifically, the neighborhoods experiencing the most trauma following the crash,” said Mayor Parker on February 1, 2025.
According to CBS, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance confirmed the names of all the aircraft victims which included a child patient and her mother who were being flown back to their home in Mexico after the young girl received treatment at Shriners Children’s Hospital.
The victims were named as Captain Alan Alejandro Montoya Perales, Copilot Josue de Jesus Juarez, Dr. Raul Meza Arredondo and Paramedic Rodrigo Lopez Padilla.
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— Mayor Cherelle L. Parker (@PhillyMayor) February 1, 2025
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance named Valentina Guzman Murillo as the child patient and the mother as Lizeth Murillo Ozuna.
“Shriners Children’s is heartbroken to confirm that one of our pediatric patients and the child’s mother were aboard the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance that crashed in Philadelphia this evening. The patient had received care from Shriners Children’s Philadelphia and was being transported back to her home country in Mexico on a contracted air ambulance when the crash happened,” said a spokesperson for the hospital.
NTSB investigators also recovered the plane’s enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), which could also contain flight data and the Learjet’s engines.
Both the CVR and EGPWS will be sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory in Washington, DC for evaluation.
Preliminary ADS-B flight data indicates that the aircraft took off from runway 24 at Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE) on January 31, 2025, at approximately 18:06 local time and climbed to an altitude of 1,650 feet.
At 18:06:56, the jet suddenly entered a steep descent, with the last recorded data point showing a descent rate of -11,000 feet per minute and a ground speed of 247 knots before impact.
The aircraft, registered MTS56, was due to stop at Springfield Branson National Airport in (SGF) in Missouri before continuing to its final destination at Tijuana International Airport (TIJ) in Mexico.
