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Medevac Jet Carrying Six Crashes in Philadelphia, No Survivors Found; Hamas Releases Three Hostages, Including Israeli American; Fire from Philly Crash Explosion Spreads to Local Houses; NTSB Barges to Help with Plane Salvage Ops. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired February 01, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Well, welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
We're following two breaking news stories at this hour, a hostage release in Gaza and the aftermath of a plane crash in Philadelphia.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allahu akbar.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): A medevac plane turned into a fireball after crashing near a busy shopping mall several hours ago. The plane had six people on board and their fate is still unclear.
The city's mayor says she has no reports on the number of casualties yet. The plane's operator only says it can't confirm any survivors. Some eyewitnesses were horrified by what they saw. Listen to this.
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VADIM OSIPOV, WITNESS: I was in shock. I'm still in shock. Like this is insane.
Why can this happen?
And before that, to be honest, in my mind, I thought, like, what if the rocket would like -- because I'm from Ukraine, right?
And there's war. There's always rockets coming in and stuff like that. And then I see like things flying.
Like no way, the war started again?
You know and you say, you never know. (END VIDEO CLIP)
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DECLAN, WITNESS: We didn't know what it was. I just saw blinking lights. I thought it was like something for the plane landing. But then I just got home and I saw it. And I was like, dang, I just witnessed it. It was like -- it was pretty scary.
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BRUNHUBER: The plane went down shortly after takeoff from northeast Philadelphia and it crashed across the street from the busy Roosevelt shopping mall. The plane's operator says it's all extremely unusual.
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SHAI GOLD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, RESCUE JET AIR AMBULANCE: It's highly unusual for a plane to take off, right?
To take off and crash right away. We simply don't know. We will have to wait patiently for this accident scene to be cleared, for the NTSB to step in. We will cooperate fully with the authorities. Anything they need we will make available.
This aircraft had an excellent maintenance record. It's a very reliable airplane that's been used before.
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BRUNHUBER: The plane's operator says the aircraft was flying in excellent condition, with experienced crew in the cockpit. Jason Carroll has more from the scene.
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JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see the area here is still cordoned off. There are emergency vehicles right down here. This is Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard. The impact of the crash several blocks in that direction.
This is a community in northeast Philadelphia that is simply in shock. When you look around and you see where this happened, this is a business district. The Roosevelt Mall here is in the area, a number of businesses, a number of residents as well. A number of row houses. This is an accident that happened just about after 6 o'clock.
This is rush hour. And so you had any number of people in the area who were out and about, who saw what happened. Eyewitnesses say they saw a fireball upon impact. Some people saying that the sky simply lit up.
Not only did people see it but they felt it as well. Some eyewitnesses saying that their windows were rattling. They went outside to see what was going on and saw the fires that had erupted on the ground.
Philadelphia's mayor says, at this point, she could not confirm how many fatalities there are. We can tell you that some eyewitnesses say that they did see some victims who were here on the ground.
We can tell you that on board that Learjet 55, that medevac aircraft, were six people on board -- four crew members, two passengers, a young girl and her mother. The young girl was here in Philadelphia receiving medical treatment. She had been cleared to fly.
The aircraft was en route to Missouri, where it was going to refuel and then head on to Mexico. All on board, we are told, are Mexican nationals.
Now when this aircraft crashed here in northeast Philadelphia, the mayor says that a number of buildings, a number of vehicles were impacted. More than 100 Philadelphia firefighters responded to the scene, doing what they could to get those fires out just as quickly as they can.
At this hour, a number of agencies here at the scene, including the NTSB, the FAA doing the early stages of their investigation.
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Already we're hearing from officials that, because the crash scene is such a wide area, they're telling people who live here in the area if they see any debris, any parts of the plane, not to touch it, to immediately call 9-1-1 so folks can get out there and do the process of beginning to retrieve pieces of the wreckage.
At this point, once again, the early stages of this investigation to try and sort out exactly what went wrong here -- Jason Carroll, CNN, Philadelphia.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to bring in Geoffrey Thomas, who's an aviation analyst and he joins me now from Perth, Australia.
Good to see you again. So listen, we've shown several angles of video from this crash. Certainly the speed and the angle of descent of this plane are really notable here.
What strikes you when you see the videos?
GEOFFREY THOMAS, AIRLINERATINGS.COM: Look, very dramatic and very terrifying. Immediate reaction, Kim, I immediately think catastrophic failure of some kind, a control issue maybe of some kind.
Why?
Of course, we just simply don't know. The Lear aircraft is a great airplane. It's been around for a long time but continually updated, well maintained. If it's well maintained, it's a great airplane. There's over 2,000 of this particular type of aircraft flying around the world.
They're supported by Bombardier, who bought the company in 1990. They have an extensive number of support centers around the world, including in the United States. So, yes, it's very well made. It's very well supported by Bombardier.
If it's looked after and maintained properly, it's a great airplane. And this one was 43 years old. But that doesn't really mean a lot as long as it's looked after.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. So we don't know the cause, obviously. But one thing that I've been hearing from some experts, when they looked at the footage and when you consider the plane that we're talking about here, a term I heard a couple of times was "weight balance stall."
Is that something that you've heard of before, that that could be a contributory factor here?
THOMAS: Certainly. If the aircraft is not in trim. And then that's weight and balance. So it's got to be, as you suggest, weight and balance has to be right for the trim to be right.
However, I would have thought, if the aircraft was out of balance, having done this sort of work myself many, many years ago, then the problem would have manifested itself earlier than the it was in the air for, I think two or three minutes or something like that.
It went about three miles, I think. On takeoff it -- they would have had problems straight away if the aircraft was not trimmed properly. And it's not an aircraft that carries cargo. It's got passengers who sit in the appropriate seats; six, four passengers, two crew.
You know, that sort of issue comes to play, you know, with a larger airplane, possibly, with cargo loaded incorrectly. Instead of being put in the rear holds, it's put in the front hold. And when the pilot comes to try and take off, the aircraft is not rotating. It's not taking off because you've got too much weight in the nose.
That's the sort of thing that typically happens. But, of course, it can happen with smaller aircraft, of course. But I would have thought this would have happened a little earlier in the flight than this situation.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Yes. I'm looking at the footage there and you see just how violent and how catastrophic that crash was.
In terms of trying to find answers here, how hard will it be, especially if there is no black box, because this type of plane isn't, isn't required to carry one?
THOMAS: Look, indeed. So the NTSB, which I must say, they've been in the news a lot lately. They're one of the best crash investigators in the world, no question about it. They're really good at what they do.
They'll be looking at things like control. I think they'll be looking at things like control surfaces. You know, there's various mechanics that go, that make up the control surfaces, that give you the pitch up and down. That will be in the tail.
So they'll be looking at those; they'll be looking for where. Or damage, maybe something wasn't put back properly, those sorts of things which would affect the control of the aircraft significantly.
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So they will comb the wreckage. And this is why sometimes these investigations can take two or three years because they've got to go analyze every single part of this aircraft.
And your earlier commentator on the ground there was talking about, you know, whatever you do, don't touch anything. Let the investigation team or the police come and pick that piece up, because that little piece might be the vital missing clue that we need to solve this terrible tragedy.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Certainly solving it will take time, as you say. Geoffrey Thomas, really appreciate having you on again.
THOMAS: Pleasure.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll bring you the latest now on the breaking news in the Middle East.
Hamas has released three hostages today as part of its cease-fire agreement with Israel. Have a look at this.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): You can see all three released there in those separate squares in the video. The three men were taken during the October 7th attacks and held until today.
The latest release was just a short time ago, when Israeli American Keith Siegel was handed over to the Red Cross. The Israeli military says he's now back in Israel.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Have a look, this was the reaction in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square. We'll bring you that video in a second there. You're seeing Keith Siegel. There we have it. People applauding as Siegel was released.
And meanwhile, relatives of one of the other hostages released today, Ofer Kalderon, celebrated his release. There were also celebrations near Ofer prison.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Now we'll show you this, the scene moments ago, when Israel began releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: All right. I'm joined now by CNN correspondent Jomana Karadsheh from Amman, Jordan.
Another joyous day for three families here, in this case, Jomana.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, a moment these families have been waiting for, Kim, for a very long time. As we have seen over the past few hours, these two separate releases taking place.
Initially you saw in Khan Yunis, in the south of Gaza, the release of Ofer Kalderon and Yarden Bibas, the father of the youngest Israeli hostages. Both were handed over there to the Red Cross before being handed over by the ICRC, to the Israeli military and then transported back to Israeli soil.
They returned home, reunited with their families. They have been undergoing medical checks there as well. And then following that, we saw the release of American Israeli hostage Keith Siegel in a Gaza port in Gaza City.
And as you saw in those images, he did look pale. He did look weak. He did look frail. And finally we are hearing, of course, that he has been he has returned home to family members, who have been anxiously awaiting this moment after 484 days in captivity.
For these hostages, of course, the way that this all happened today was so important, Kim, because Israeli officials made it clear that they did not want to see the sort of release that took place of the other hostages on Thursday.
Those chaotic scenes, where the hostages, including the young Israeli woman, Arbel Yehud, who were forced to walk through those large, unruly crowds, escorted by militants, you know, we saw the terrified looks on their faces as they had to go through that.
And it was a scene that really shocked and enraged so many in Israel. And the government said they did not want to see that happen. They held up and delayed the release on that day of Palestinian prisoners, awaiting assurances from the mediators from Qatar and Egypt that that would not happen again.
And that's when they received those assurances and released the Palestinian prisoners. But another term that was made, another condition we heard yesterday in a warning coming from Israeli officials, that they would not open the Rafah border crossing as planned today if they saw a repeat of those scenes.
And as we saw the handover, the release of the hostages appeared to be -- these very brief moments, these brief events that took place today, far more organized, less crowds.
[05:15:00] And you saw this heavy presence of Hamas militants at both sites where these releases took place. And as a result of that, right now, we are beginning to see the release of Palestinian prisoners from Ofer prison in the West Bank. They are being handed over to the Red Cross.
In the last few moments, we have begun seeing these images of these prisoners being greeted by crowds of family members, very emotional scenes. We are expecting the release of 183 prisoners today.
And Kim, keeping in mind that several of them, 12 of 18 of those prisoners are serving life sentences and 54 others have -- are serving long sentences. And they are considered dangerous. They are considered terrorists by Israelis.
And so we are seeing these moments, these -- this release that is taking place right now. We understand that more than 100 of those prisoners were detained and arrested in Gaza after October 7th. They will be released into Gaza, 40 prisoners released to the West Bank.
But another key moment, of course, is the medical evacuation of Palestinians that is set to begin today, with injured and sick patients who will be allowed to cross into Egypt from the Rafah border crossing, to be able to travel abroad, to be able to receive the medical treatment that they so desperately need.
We understand that today there are 50 patients there, already on buses there, already waiting to cross the Rafah crossing. And keeping in mind we have not seen an evacuation through that lifeline really for these patients.
That Rafah crossing, since its closure by Israeli forces in May of 2024, there are 12,000 to 14,000 people in Gaza, according to the United Nations, who need life saving treatment abroad. So this is a very significant moment, a very important moment as well for those who are in real urgent needs of medical treatment.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. So vital for so many people. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much.
All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we'll have the latest on the other breaking news we've been following, the crash of a medevac jet into a Philadelphia neighborhood.
Plus, we're also following developments in the deadly midair collision over Washington, D.C. Authorities have recovered all the black boxes involved as they try to determine what caused the deadliest aviation disaster in decades. We'll have the latest on that investigation next.
And more on the three hostages released today in Gaza. Stay with CNN for the latest on this breaking story.
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BRUNHUBER: All right, let's get the latest on one of the big stories we've been following, the air ambulance crash late Friday in a Philadelphia neighborhood. The medevac Learjet 55 went down with six people on board, including a pediatric patient and the child's mother. All were Mexican nationals.
Data shows the jet plunged to the Earth at the speed of 11,000 feet per minute. Organizers of the flight say survivors can't be confirmed. And so far, no word on fatalities on the ground, though a local hospital told CNN that it treated six patients and three have already been discharged.
And we're going to play you air traffic control audio of the moment when the controller realized the plane had disappeared. Listen to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medevac med service 056, contact Philly departure 123.8.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 123.8, medevac, what's your 056, medevac?
Thank you. Was that --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Medevac med service 056, northeast tower, contact Philly, 123.8.
Medevac med service 056, northeast tower.
Medevac med service 056, northeast tower, are you on frequency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) 24. What's going on, (INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's at 765. We have a lost aircraft. We're not exactly sure what happened, so we're trying to figure it out for now.
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BRUNHUBER: A Ring camera video caught the massive explosion and the fireball when the plane hit the ground.
Now that jet crash in Philadelphia comes just days after another deadly aviation disaster, the mid-air collision above Washington, D.C. Investigators have been interviewing air traffic control personnel there. Listen to this.
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TODD INMAN, NTSB BOARD MEMBER: We will go back and look at any air traffic controller that was involved in this. We'll go back and look at their past probably 72 hours, even two or three weeks. We'll look at their training, their hiring, everything; what they probably ate that day, what job functions they were doing. Were they being combined?
Controller that was working at the time has been interviewed and his interviews are ongoing throughout the day.
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BRUNHUBER: The National Transportation Safety Board says barges will assist in the salvage operation. Authorities have recovered the so- called black box from the military helicopter that collided with the passenger plane on Wednesday night; 67 people died in the disaster.
Initial flight tracking data appears to show the Black Hawk helicopter flying about 100 feet above its allowed altitude and veering off the prescribed route. Investigators now have all the black boxes of both aircraft involved. The passenger plane's cockpit voice recorder was found to have water intrusion, which federal officials say isn't uncommon.
More now on today's hostage release in Gaza and the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Hamas released three hostages today as part of the agreement. You see them there in the video. Israel is also releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners today.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. I want to bring in Julie Norman, who is an associate professor at University College London. She joins us live now.
Thank you so much for being here with us again. So the fourth hostage release now. Next week, Hamas and Israel are meant to begin negotiating a second phase of the ceasefire, which calls for releasing the remaining hostages and extending the truce indefinitely.
Does it give you any more hope that things can progress through to a second phase, which is, of course, when things get really tricky?
JULIE NORMAN, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: Well, Kim, I think it's very encouraging that the first phase is still moving along as it is up to this point. Obviously, it hasn't been seamless and without complications.
But we are seeing the hostage releases happening mostly as planned and also the release of Palestinian prisoners. Getting from this phase one to phase two has always been known to be the trickiest part of this deal.
Phase two is when we are expected to see a permanent end to the war, a full withdrawal of Israeli forces. And that has always been something that has been very difficult to get both parties to agree to and to really figure out the details around that. So we are expecting those talks to begin this week. But I think we can expect that those will be some difficult negotiations going forward. And there will be a lot of pressure, I would say, on Netanyahu from different parties with how he approaches this deal in particular.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. We did see that Hamas responded to calls to change the way that they were handing over prisoners, not to repeat those chaotic scenes that we saw Thursday. Talk to me about the role of the negotiators and the other countries in the region which are which are playing a part here.
NORMAN: Sure. So there's a lot of actors involved in these negotiations. Hamas and Israel don't really negotiate directly, so they rely on mediators, especially Qatar. So a lot of these talks are happening in Doha as well as Egypt.
And, of course, the United States is a very important broker at the moment. And so we have all these parties involved. And I would also note in Gaza, Hamas is obviously the main actor. Many hostages, though, have been held by other groups as well.
So those chaotic scenes included hostages who had been held by Islamic Jihad. And I think that was one reason why that release looked a bit different than some of the others that we've seen because, even within Gaza, there's a lot of different parties operating.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And you mentioned the U.S., of course, is a key player. In this next week, Netanyahu is expected to meet with Trump.
So how much pressure do you think president Trump will exert on the prime minister to actually end the war?
NORMAN: Yes. You know, Kim, the meeting this week is going to be very telling. It was very important, I would say, that Trump and Trump's Middle East envoy really did put the pressure on Israel to agree to this initial phase one.
And everything that we are hearing is saying that Trump is really going to lean into getting phase two happening as well. He does seem to want this. This is everything that we're hearing, you know, which may be surprising to some people.
I will say that it's probably going to put Netanyahu in a very difficult position, between opting for what Trump wants to see happening and what many in Israel, especially the more right wing ministers and many in the security sector, want to see happen.
And so if Netanyahu agrees to it, there's going to be some real -- need to be some real incentives for him. And some of those might affect other parts of the region, such as the West Bank. So a lot that I feel is going to be in these discussions. And it's going to be very interesting to see how Trump, as well as Netanyahu, play it going forward.
BRUNHUBER: I'm curious, in the last part of what you said, what other parts of the region would be impacted?
How would the West Bank be brought into this specifically, if you're talking about an agreement between Trump and Netanyahu?
NORMAN: Yes. I think this is a really interesting point, because if Israel does agree to withdraw from Gaza, many of us are keeping our eyes on what is happening in the West Bank, where I assume -- and many assume -- that Israel will be looking to further impress its control there.
So that could include through the expansion of settlements, possibly through annexing certain parts of the West Bank or simply increasing the military control in that part of the Palestinian territory.
So my guess is that is where we would see that tradeoff. That's where we would see that incentive for the more right wing parts of the Israeli government. And so I would say that's where a lot of us analysts are watching right now. And things have been developing there since October 7th and even more since the ceasefire started.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll have to leave it there. Appreciate getting your analysis. Julie Norman live in London, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
NORMAN: Thank you.
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BRUNHUBER: A medevac plane plunges to the ground, causing a massive explosion in Philadelphia. Still ahead, witnesses describe the blast and a scramble to get to safety after the jet turned into a fireball.
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Plus, we're tracking the three hostages Hamas released today in Gaza. Stay with us for updates. We'll bring them to you here on CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Let me give you an update on the plane crash in Philadelphia. It happened several hours ago, leading to a massive fireball that rattled an area on the city's northeast side. Officials say a medevac plane with six people on board went down near a busy shopping mall.
Philadelphia's mayor says she has no reports on the number of fatalities. A local hospital says six people were treated after the crash but it's not clear where and how they were injured. Everyone on board was a Mexican national, including a young girl heading home after medical treatment along with her mother.
Earlier, one witness described the fiery crash to CNN.
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STANLEY JAMES III, WITNESS: I heard a boom and the whole car just shook. And I was able to see things in front of me, shake two cars, buildings. And I look back because my kids was just screaming super duper loud.
And so when I looked back, I just seen a big flame. And so when I seen the flame, the first thing I did was jump out the car. And as I'm running up toward it, I pull out my camera and I'm just thinking, I'm like, I hope it ain't a bomb or I hope we ain't getting hit.
I don't know what's going on in the world right now. And next thing you know, you can see the plane fragments. You could smell the gas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The area around the crash site is busy and densely populated with shopping malls nearby and streets are lined with row houses. The explosion set homes and vehicles on fire.
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And this is how first responders alerted the situation.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on location, two story. End of the row, 16 by 45. Explosion. We've got heavy fire in the dwelling. We have fire spread around across the street. Multiple vehicles. I'll give you a further report on access. All companies proceed in. Go in service.
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BRUNHUBER: Ed Kelly, president of the International Association of Firefighters, spoke to CNN earlier about the massive response from emergency crews and the challenges they faced. And here's what he told my colleague, Kaitlan Collins.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED KELLY, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS: The Philadelphia firefighters actually struck three alarms for this, which brings about a 150 firefighters. They also declared a mass casualty incident, which brings about 10 ambulances and the paramedics that we also represent in Philadelphia.
When you have these jet crashes, any fire doubles in size in every minute. When you add an accelerant, it obviously accelerates the fire. With jet fuel, it's a particularly hazardous flame -- flammability to it.
So we had multiple row houses burning in Philadelphia. I've been talking to the firefighters on the ground there. It did affect rescues when they got there. So some of the people who were trapped in those buildings were saved tonight by the Philadelphia firefighters. We had one Philadelphia firefighter that was injured.
And it's an unfolding scene. Anytime you have those jet fuel incidences, you also need special types of firefighting foams to actually try to contain it as well.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Yes. And what does that -- you know, how readily available does a city fire department have that?
Because obviously, this was a plane that was taking a trip that was 1,100 miles, based on what we were told, from Philly to Branson, Missouri. And obviously, there's a lot of fuel on that plane.
Is this something that every fire department has typically?
What does that look like?
KELLY: Well, all airport fire departments, which Philadelphia is in charge of, Philadelphia Fire Department protects the airport. That particular airfield, where that plane took off from, I am not sure if they're affiliated with the Philadelphia airport. But those -- our airport crash rescue crews always have a large capacity foam on hand, for jet fuel fires.
In the field, in city fire departments, some engine companies are designated as foam companies that bring that capacity with them to certain incidents.
This Philadelphia fire department in particular, I'm not a 100 percent sure exactly how they structure their foam response. But I know that tonight, they did a tremendous job, trying to contain that fire from burning the whole block down.
COLLINS: What does that look like when they get on the scene immediately, in terms of if a house is on fire but there's jet fuel everywhere, like, what do they do first in that situation?
KELLY: Well, oftentimes, when these jets crash into crowded neighborhoods, which happens from time to time, the first two apparatus don't always understand that it was a plane crash.
A lot of times it just it's -- looks like a massive explosion. Usually have fire rapidly spreading to multiple buildings, cars usually burning, which was the case here in Philadelphia tonight. You saw that in some of the video.
So the first objective is to save lives. So the first companies in are going to be looking at those buildings and seeing what is searchable in the buildings, where they have fire that has not extended, say, into that second floor that you just showed. They're going to go in and try to search that.
They're going to get lines in place, hose lines in place, to try to cut off that fire. It requires a lot of personnel, as soon as you can get them in, to try to contain that fire.
And Philadelphia is a very aggressive fire department. And tonight, they were -- they were able to get, as I said, three alarms, about 150 firefighters on scene and rapid response and were able to contain that fire before it burned the whole block down.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, in Washington, authorities have recovered a combined voice and flight data recorder from the U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter involved in Wednesday's deadly collision with an American Airlines regional jet.
Investigators have also begun interviewing air traffic control personnel. The Federal Aviation Administration has indefinitely shut down the low altitude helicopter corridor that was in use at the time of the mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport.
Crews have recovered 41 bodies from the waters of the Potomac River but at least 14 people are still missing. Officials are bringing in barges to help with removing the aircraft, hoping to find the remaining bodies.
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CHIEF JOHN DONNELLY SR., D.C. FIRE AND EMS: We think we know where they are. We won't know until we're done.
I mean, were going to continue this search operation but we've searched a large portion of this river and we are right there. I believe that, when we remove the aircraft, that that will help us resolve this number. If it doesn't, we will continue the search.
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[05:40:00]
BRUNHUBER: And the NTSB expects to issue a preliminary report in about 30 days.
Hamas has now released all three hostages scheduled to be freed today and Israel has started releasing more than 180 Palestinian prisoners. Stay with CNN for the latest on this breaking story.
Plus more breaking news coverage of a plane crash in Philadelphia as investigators begin to look for clues about a possible cause. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: The latest now on the breaking news in the Middle East. Hamas has released three hostages today as part of its cease-fire
agreement with Israel. You can see the three releases happening there. Now the three men were taken during the October 7th attacks and held until today.
The latest release was just a short time ago, when Israeli American Keith Siegel was handed over to the Red Cross. The Israeli military says he's now back in Israel.
Well, this was the reaction in Tel Aviv's Hostage Square. People there applauded as Keith Siegel was released. Meanwhile, relatives of one of the other hostages released today, Ofer Kalderon, celebrated his release.
There were also celebrations near Ofer prison. This was the scene moments ago as Israel began releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: I want to bring in H.A. Hellyer, who's a senior fellow in geopolitics and security at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence in London and the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. And he joins us now from Cairo.
So I just want to get start -- to start off, your reaction to yet another release of not just Israeli hostages but also more Palestinian prisoners as well.
H.A. HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENCE AND SECURITY STUDIES: Thank you, Kim, for having me on your show. So the proposed ceasefire outline, as the -- Netanyahu's cabinet refers to, it includes a clause about prisoner exchange. And Israel is supposed to release 1,000 detainees from Gaza.
[05:45:00]
They were detained on the 8th of October but explicitly not involved in the 7th of October attack on Israel.
People should ask the question, why were they then detained for the past 15 months, especially if they had nothing to do with the 7th of October attack?
But as part of the agreement, there's supposed to be those releases of those prisoners. There have been a number of prisoners that have been released. And even before that, there was a young Palestinian, Mohamed Sabah (ph). He is now 20 years old. He was actually detained by Israel when he was 14.
And has now been released in the late -- not the round today but in the latest round beforehand in very bad medical condition, actually. So I think it's important to keep in mind that there are prisoners that are being released that should never have been taken.
There are people, such as the Thai prisoners but also many of the Israeli prisoners, many of the Palestinian prisoners, that should just really have never been a part of any of this. And it behooves us to keep in mind that these sorts of detainments by the occupying power or by a group like Hamas are simply unacceptable.
BRUNHUBER: Now in Egypt, where you are, they're getting ready to receive patients who are in Gaza, who are injured. And we just can't understate the importance of the reopening of that Rafah border crossing.
HELLYER: No, it's incredibly important. And I think also we should keep in mind that Gaza is surrounded on all sides by, I think, about eight or nine border crossings. They've all been kept closed by the Israelis, with the exception of Rafah.
At any point in the past 15 months, any of those crossings could have been opened by the Israelis to allow for people to exit Gaza and be able to seek refuge or be able to receive medical treatment.
On the contrary, what is being called for is for Egypt to simply allow for displaced Palestinians to go one way, OK, as in -- and the chief of staff in Israel made this very clear that Rafah is now open but for Palestinians to leave. They will not be allowed to come back.
So you've seen also over the last week or so, the suggestion from D.C., that Egypt and Jordan should take, you know, the vast majority of Palestinians from Gaza, possibly temporarily, possibly permanently. So a call for ethnic cleansing by any other name.
And I think this is very important as we as we look into how Gaza works out over the coming weeks, particularly with the negotiations over phase two.
What is to become of the Palestinians of Gaza when we don't even have a firm commitment that they ought to be allowed to return to their homes and to their land?
BRUNHUBER: Well, you mentioned phase two. So let's take stock of sort of where we are in the life cycle of this deal.
You know, I've had experts on here who have told me they expect Netanyahu to find a pretext to break the cease-fire because he doesn't want to get there. Other experts say that Hamas can't afford to release all the hostages because that's their only leverage.
I mean, where do you stand?
Do you expect us to get to phase two and potentially beyond?
HELLYER: So it's an open question, to be quite honest. So I think Trump's envoy, Witkoff, has really impressed upon the Israelis that phase two has to happen, that we have to get into phase two.
And you saw many signals, actually, from Netanyahu's government, from ministers that were in it. One left, of course, one stayed in. But they were very, very clear about the need to return to war by the end of phase one, right. And as a result, the commitment of Israel not to return to war has
been very much in question. At the same time I think what has really impressed upon Netanyahu the need to have phase two take place because, indeed, of the return of the hostages.
But phase two is an incredibly difficult phase for the Israelis because it entails the complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip in terms of troops on the ground.
[05:50:00]
But also I think the disappearance of quote-unquote, these "buffer zones," OK. So the buffer zone that is inside Gazan territory stretches across the entirety of the perimeter and reduces the territory of Gaza by quite a significant amount.
And the ceasefire is supposed to ensure that they can, that should be gone as well as, of course, complete withdrawal of the IDF. And I find it very difficult to envisage a government in Israel that would be able to carry that out without facing tremendous pressure from the far right and the right wing to the point of even collapsing.
So --
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BRUNHUBER: We'll certainly get more --
HELLYER: (INAUDIBLE).
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we'll certainly get more signals perhaps next week as we watch that meeting between Trump and Netanyahu. We'll have to leave it there. But always appreciate your analysis, H.A. Hellyer in Cairo, thanks so much.
HELLYER: Thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Well, two crashes on the U.S. East Coast in just two days. Still ahead, we'll have the latest details on the Philadelphia and Washington air disasters. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Two deadly aviation accidents in the U.S. in a matter of 48 hours. Let's get you the latest developments on both stories.
A medevac flight crashed into a Philadelphia neighborhood Friday night. It went down carrying a crew of four, plus a pediatric patient and the child's mother. The air ambulance company said they couldn't confirm any survivors.
And so far, there's been no confirmation of fatalities on the ground. The state's governor spoke about the emergency response.
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GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): What you're seeing here is a unified response to an awful aviation disaster.
For as awful as that aviation disaster was tonight, we also saw the best of Philly. We saw neighbor helping neighbor. We saw Pennsylvanians looking out for one another. We know that there will be loss in this region and we want to offer our thoughts and our serious prayers for those who are grieving at this moment.
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BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, in Washington, investigators have begun interviewing air traffic control personnel who were working Wednesday. That's when a collision between a passenger plane and a military helicopter left 67 people dead.
The National Transportation Safety Board says barges will assist in the salvage operation in the Potomac River.
All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. We'll have more coverage of these breaking stories coming up here on "CNN THIS MORNING."