The moment flying debris from the Philadelphia jet crash struck a man in the head while he was sitting in a restaurant was captured on terrifying video.
Everyone on board was killed when a small plane carrying six people crashed into the ground in a US city at 6:30 p.m. local time on Friday, January 31.
It has recently been established that the aircraft was a Medevac mission, transporting four crew members—all Mexican nationals—as well as a small girl and her mother. The aircraft was scheduled to make a layover in Springfield, Missouri, before continuing on to the city of Tijuana.
It is believed that the jet crashed after only 30 seconds of flight.
A man eating in a restaurant a quarter of a mile from the crash scene was hit in the head by flying debris, according to one clip of the horrific aftermath that has started making the rounds on social media.
As missiles fly into the eatery, patrons in the Four Seasons Diner are seen running for shelter in the CCTV clip, which was first released by 6abc Philadelphia. Something seems to have struck one man’s head, causing him to collapse sideways in the booth.
Later, 6abc reported that although the man had lost blood, he had not been gravely hurt in the incident.
“He was OK, but he was bleeding, a lot of blood on his head,” a member of staff told reporters.
Ayhan Tiryaki, the manager of Four Seasons, has now told The New York Post that although everyone in the cafe was “pretty shaken,” they were all well.
“The one customer was hit in the head with a piece of metal and he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance,” according to him.
“We don’t know exactly how he is but we hope he’ll be OK.”
It is thought that flying debris did not strike anyone else in the eatery.
Since then, it has been verified that one person on the ground has died and that 19 others have been hurt. This number, however, may still increase because, according to Philadelphia City Managing Director Adam Thiel, it may take days before officials can determine “the number of folks who perished in this tragedy and the outcome of those who were injured,” as he stated in a news conference (via BBC).
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has disclosed that an unidentified driver was the first person on the scene to be officially declared dead in the collision.
