PHILADELPHIA — For EMTs Alex Salas and Victor Benitez, their dispatch on Jan. 31 initially seemed like a routine call. The two were en route to Shriners Children’s Philadelphia to pick up Valentina Guzman Murillo.
Salas and Benitez arrived at the hospital, where they met Valentina Guzman Murillo and her mother, Lizeth Murillo Ozuna. Valentina had spent five months at Shriners Children’s Philadelphia receiving treatment for a life-threatening illness. That day marked her long-awaited release, and she was preparing to return home to Mexico, NBC 10 Philadelphia reported.
“We got the patient on board. The staff was super happy,” Salas said. “They were sad because she was leaving but they were happy because she was finally going home, especially the mom.”
Salas recalled the staff’s mix of joy and sadness as they loaded the patient, excited for her long-awaited return home. At the airport, they joked with the pilot before the paramedic fist-bumped them goodbye. The pilot gave a small salute and that was the last they saw of them.
Salas recalled that he and Benitez watched the plane take off, soaring overhead about ten minutes later. Shortly after, around 6 p.m., they heard reports of a massive fire on Cottman Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia, roughly three miles from the airport. It wasn’t long before they learned that the Learjet 55 had crashed, triggering a devastating explosion.
“Later on, our boss calls us to tell us that unfortunately, it was our patient that we just loaded,” Salas said. “It was like a punch in the gut. We were just interacting with them. Joking.”
All six people who were aboard the Jet Rescue Air Ambulance were killed. In addition, one person on the ground who was in a car was killed and 19 others were injured in the crash.
