An air ambulance returning a seriously ill young girl to Mexico after life-saving treatment in the US crashed and burst into flames near a shopping centre in Philadelphia on Friday night.

The plane, which its operator Jet Rescue Air Ambulance said was carrying “four crew members, one child patient and their escort”, crashed into a road and video showed multiple nearby homes on fire.

The patient, accompanied by her mother, was en route home to Tijuana, with a doctor and a paramedic assisting them. A pilot and co-pilot were also on board. All six were citizens of Mexico, the country’s foreign ministry said.

“All I can say is, the patient was sponsored by a third-partner charity to undergo life-saving treatment in the US,”