An air ambulance carrying six people; four crew members, a young patient and her mother, has crashed in a residential area of Philadelphia, causing flames in several homes.

All the six people on board the jet, said to be travelling to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri before losing control shortly after takeoff, were all Mexican nationals.

A witness said the crash resulted in a large fire, prompting a significant response.

“I was just driving down the street, coming to Wendy’s and I just saw a plane basically hit the building and it exploded. The sky lit up and I pulled over and basically, it was just real bad around here,” the witness noted.

A statement by the Federal Aviation Administration said the crashed jet was operated by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, stating it could not confirm survivors yet.

“No names are being released at this time until family members have been notified. Our immediate concern is for the patient’s family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground.”

A staff at Jet Rescue Air Ambulance, Shai Gold, said “the company was terribly shocked by this tragic turn of events, adding it didn’t really know what happened.

“This was a very seasoned crew. We are a leading air ambulance company, we fly 600 to 700 times a year”

Governor Josh Shapiro, who was at the scene of the incident, also described it as an “awful aviation disaster.

“As awful as that aviation disaster was, tonight we also saw the best of Philly. We saw a neighbour helping a neighbour. We saw Pennsylvanians working together,” Mr Shapiro said.