Mexico’s president has confirmed that the six victims who were on the small medevac jet that crashed in a Philadelphia neighborhood Friday evening were Mexican citizens.

“I regret the death of six Mexicans in the plane crash in Philadelphia. The consular authorities are in permanent contact with the families,” Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X Saturday morning.

“I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support them in whatever way is required. My solidarity with their loved ones and friends,” she added.

The plane had been carrying home to Mexico a young girl who had received “life-saving treatment” in the United States, her mother, a doctor, paramedic, pilot, and copilot, Shai Gold, spokesman for Mexico-based Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, told NBC 10 Philadelphia.

The Learjet 55 plummeted out of the sky shortly after 6 p.m., less than a minute after taking off from Northeast Philadelphia Airport en route to Missouri’s Springfield-Branson National Airport. The flight had been scheduled for a stop in Missouri, before continuing on to its final destination of Tijuana.

“When an incident like this happens, it’s shocking and surprising,” Gold told The Associated Press. “All of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.”

Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia confirmed it had been treating the young girl and that she had been en route back to her home country with her mother, but declined to discuss further personal details, citing patient privacy. 

“Our hearts go out to the families of the medical crew and pilots who were also lost in this tragic event — as well as all of the people who were affected on the ground — and we’re thankful to the first responders for their quick action,” said a statement from the hospital. 

Video footage captured by a doorbell camera showed the plane plummeting and exploding in a fireball when hitting the ground close to a shopping mall and major roadway. 

“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,” Jim Quinn, the owner of the doorbell camera, told the AP. 

Four people stayed Friday night at a shelter set up at Samuel Fels High School by the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management and the Red Cross following the crash. 

“During tragedies like this, it’s important for people to connect with and support each other,” the Red Cross said. 

Friday’s calamity came a little over a year after another fatal crash involving an air ambulance flown by Jet Rescue, which has operations in the US and Mexico. 

On Nov. 1, 2023, a Learjet 35A overran the runway at Cuernavaca Airport in central Mexico and crashed into the wooded hillside near the town of Tetlama, roughly 30 miles south of Mexico City. None of the five crew members onboard the 2023 flight, which had no passengers, survived the crash. 

The small plane crash also came just two days after the deadliest commercial plane crash in the United States in nearly 24 years. 

On Wednesday, an American Airlines jet with 60 passengers and four crew members on board collided mid-air in Washington, DC, with an Army helicopter carrying three soldiers, sending chunks of flaming debris into the Potomac River below. There were no survivors from either aircraft. 

With Post wires