The air ambulance was carrying a Mexican child who had been treated in the US city for a life threatening condition and was being flown home to Mexico.
Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said the child and her mother were on board along with four other crew members, all of whom are from Mexico.
The plane was first bound for Missouri with the intention of then flying onwards to its ultimate destination of Tijuana, but the flight only lasted around 30 seconds.
Six people were on board the air ambulance, and a nearby hospital has also treated six people who were on the ground. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Among the devices which recorded harrowing footage of the disaster were dashboard cameras from nearby cars and doorbell cameras from local residents.
Their footage shows the plane moving through the sky and hurtling towards the ground before the Philadelphia sky is lit up with the explosion.
One of the owners of a doorbell camera which captured the calamity, Jim Quinn, said: “All we heard was a loud roar and didn’t know where it was coming from. We just turned around and saw the big plume.”
What has Donald Trump said about the Philadelphia plane crash?
US president Donald Trump said the plane crash was ‘so sad’.
In a statement he added: “More innocent souls lost. Our people are totally engaged.”
The BBC reports that Temple University Hospital-Jeanes had treated six people on the ground who had been injured by the crash, with three released and details not known about the other three.
A spokesperson for Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, which provides air ambulance services in multiple countries, said: “When an incident like this happens, it’s shocking and surprising. All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.”
This tragic crash comes in the wake of the deadliest US air disaster in years, as just days earlier a passenger plane coming in to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC with 64 people on board collided with an army helicopter carrying three people.
