Philly plane crash: Over a dozen businesses near crash site unable to return to daily operations

PHILADELPHIA - The sound of the explosion was captured on a surveillance camera inside Cottman Nails Bar in the Roosevelt Mall. 

A normal, busy shift in the business on Friday evening, quickly turned to chaos as customers got up to see what happened.

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What they're saying:

"We hear the explosions, everybody was just shocked," said Brian Bun, co-owner, working at the time of the plane crash. "We take a look in the sky, there’s like smoke, fire. That moment was just unbelievable."

Bun is one of the many business owners to evacuate on Friday after the Learjet medical transport plane crashed shortly after 6 p.m., and has not returned since. 

Fortunately, he thinks they likely escaped any damage, but several on Cottman Avenue are not as lucky,

The owner of Ott and Associates, Gregory Ott, tells FOX 29, he anticipates damage to the roof of their building, at the very least, but he has no idea what the inside of their building looks like. 

They normally have at least 20 customers come in on a daily basis to drop off checks, and he’s quickly working to set up a new location nearby.

Mayor Cherelle Parker says she’s aware of the impact to businesses in the Northeast.

"While the immediate response was the public safety and health of those that were immediately impacted, we know that there will be both short, medium, and a long-term impact on Philadelphia, "she said. "It will require that inter-governmental collaboration, no silos."

Bun says he’s thinking of the victims first, and then trying to stay optimistic.

"I was just praying for the family who got impacted from the crash and still continue praying," he said. "Short-term we should be OK, still low impact, but long-term might be a big impact for our business because we’re going to lose clients and all the employees, they might, you know, find alternative ways to find incomes."