Philadelphia boy praised as hero for shielding sister during plane crash

A 10-year-old boy who was hospitalized following the Philadelphia medical jet crash is being hailed as a hero for saving his sister’s life.

Andre Howard III, who goes by “Trey” according to FOX 29, was on an after-school doughnut run with his dad and sister Friday in the area of the disaster that left a large, gaping crater on Cottman Avenue on the city’s northeast side. 

Trey’s dad told local media outlets that as debris from the crash fell to the ground, the grade schooler shielded his sister, likely saving her life.

“Heard what we thought was a car crash, but then you see a fury of fire in the air, then a bunch of debris shooting everywhere,” Trey’s dad told ABC 6 Action News. 

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“My son, who’s named after me, Andre Howard, tells his little sister, ‘Get down.’ And he grabs her. I hear the glass shatter. I turn around, there’s a piece of metal sticking out of my son’s head from the plane,” he continued.

Trey underwent emergency brain surgery as a result of his injury, but reports say he was last in stable condition at a children’s hospital.

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On Monday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker said 24 people were injured as a result of the plane crash and four were still hospitalized. Two of them critical, two stable, she said.

Seven people died as a result of the crash; six Mexican nationals in the jet and a person in a car.

Newly-appointed U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was in Philadelphia on Monday, where he said a preliminary report on the crash should be available “within 30 days” and the jet’s black box was on its way to Washington, D.C.