DREXEL HILL, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A medical helicopter crashed right by a church at the corner of Burmont Road and Bloomfield Avenue in Drexel Hill Tuesday afternoon, injuring four people including a two-month-old girl.
All four have been listed in stable condition in what has been described by witnesses as a "miracle."
The helicopter crashed down in the front lawn of Drexel Hill United Methodist Church around 1 p.m. It did not catch fire.
According to Upper Darby police, four people were on the chopper — the pilot, co-pilot, a nurse, and an infant.
Everyone was able to get out safely before fire crews came to the scene. The four people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
“It’s an absolute miracle," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Tim Bernhardt said about the condition of the four people on the helicopter, and the fact that neither the helicopter nor the church and nursery school in the building immediately caught fire.
“I heard the calls come out. On the first call, I said “no way," then the second, then the third. My heart just dropped," Bernhardt added.
“The calls continued, and it was that a helicopter was near-crashing, and they could tell that by the height, the helicopter was dropping rapidly."
Witnesses saw fuel gushing from the side of the helicopter after the crash.
"There was about one hour's worth of fuel still left on the plane," said Upper Darby Township Fire Chief Derrick Sawyer.
"Once we secured the scene, we check the structure of the church to make sure there was no structural damage. So as you can see, this is a miracle in the works where there were no lives lost and no property damage.”
Those on the scene praised the pilot, who was able to avoid cars on the road, utility wires, and homes in the area as the crash happened.
Witnesses in the neighborhood said they heard a sputter, an odd sound outside their home. They went outside their houses and saw the helicopter crash nearby.
"My whole house was shaking, and me and my mom, we’re looking at each other [asking] 'What’s going on?'" said Grace Lynch, who lives around the corner from the church.
"I thought it was the work across the street, but after the second bang and it being as loud as it was and my whole house shaking, I definitely knew it wasn’t just construction work going on."
She said that when she went to find out what happened, she did not expect to see a downed helicopter.
"My prayers for whoever was in that helicopter, prayers to them, and I hope they're okay," said Lynch.
An EC 135 helicopter from LifeNet out of Hagerstown, Maryland was involved in the crash, the vice president of aircraft owner Air Methods said in a statement.
Officials said the medical helicopter was taking the baby to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia from out of state.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the crash.