A customer at Four Seasons Diner, in Philadelphia, was nearly killed by a freak piece of debris hurled from a nearby plane crash. Authorities are still investigating what caused a medical transport flight to crash. It came blazing in fast and exploded half a mile from the Cottman Avenue eatery.
Customer survived
The injured customer was struck in the head by a flying piece of metal. All he can say is that his number wasn’t up this time. If it was, there wouldn’t have been a thing he could have done to prevent it. Everyone aboard the doomed Learjet 55 was killed instantly.
Another innocent bystander on the ground wasn’t as lucky. One person is reported dead who had been in a vehicle at the impact scene.
Shortly after 6 p.m., on Friday, January 31, an unidentified customer at the Four Seasons Diner on Cottman Avenue was minding his own business.
He was seated comfortably in a booth when “a small piece of metal thought to be from the doomed Learjet 55 flew through one of the glass windows.” Nobody realized there had been a plane crash half a mile away.
“We all pretty shaken but everyone is okay,” manager Ayhan Tiryaki relates. Almost everyone.
“The one customer was hit in the head with a piece of metal and he was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. We don’t know exactly how he is but we hope he’ll be okay.” One other person on the ground was killed at the crash site.
Victim in a car
As related by Mayor Cherelle Parker, “The victim was in a car.” Another 19 were injured, not counting the diner customer. “This is not etched in stone, and the investigation is ongoing.”
Local news outlets report that “those injured on the ground were in parking lots, on the streets, in cars and homes near the crash site, which left a large field of debris, damaged buildings and burnt out cars.”
Officials confirm that “six Mexican nationals, including a 6-year-old girl who had just received life-saving treatment, died in the crash.”
That, the restaurant customer would say, shows that their number really must have been up. There was nothing anyone could do to prevent their deaths. They were only delayed.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro mentioned that “at least one firefighter was hospitalized for a breathing issue.” As for the families of the dead and the individuals injured, “right now, we’re just asking for prayers,” Mayor Parker consoles.
Also aboard the jet were a doctor, paramedic, pilot, and copilot. There’s no word on whether the diner customer was one of the three patients already released from the hospital.
