An Amazon Air Boeing 767-300 cargo jet overran a runway at Miami International Airport shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday, struck several vehicles on the ground and killed at least five people, officials said. Five more were injured, three of them critically.
The crash halted operations at Miami International for roughly three hours and thrust Amazon's air-freight arm and its contract carrier into a federal safety review. Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board opened investigations Sunday.
The flight
The plane, operated for Amazon Prime Air by North Carolina-based 21 Air, had departed Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and was landing at Miami just before 14:00 local time when it overshot the runway and came to rest in an adjacent field, officials said. It struck vehicles near the 2100 block of Northwest 42nd Avenue, on the airport's northwest perimeter.
On the scene
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue dispatched more than 60 units, and the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office also responded. The plane was on fire and spewing heavy smoke when crews arrived, the fire agency said, and specialized airport firefighting units used foam to combat the flames while technical rescue personnel worked to extract several people trapped inside their vehicles. Firefighters located the pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit; officials did not disclose their condition. Three of the five injured arrived at a local trauma center in critical condition; the other two were taken to nearby hospitals.
"What we found was a very complex situation," MDFR Chief Ray Jadallah said. Crews also worked to contain an active fuel leak from the aircraft. Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis urged residents and motorists to avoid 67th Avenue and 25th Street.
Amazon and the operator
Amazon confirmed one of its planes was involved. "We're working closely with local authorities and officials to understand exactly what happened. Right now, our absolute priority is the safety, well-being, and care of everyone involved. We're doing everything we can to support those affected," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said. Nantel said the company was "heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives" and pledged support for affected families. Amazon would "cooperate fully with any investigation," she added.
21 Air Chief Executive Keith Winters said in a Sunday statement that he was "devastated by the accident involving one of our aircraft" and that "The circumstances of the accident are under investigation."
The investigation
Officials said it was too early to determine whether the five killed had been aboard the plane or on the ground. The names of the victims have not been released. The airport lifted its ground stop after roughly three hours.
The cause of the overrun has not been identified. Neither Amazon nor 21 Air nor federal investigators publicly cited weather, mechanical failure, crew action or runway conditions Sunday, and none of the wire reporting Sunday pointed to prior warnings about the airframe, the operator or the San Juan-Miami route. Officials did not say whether the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder had been recovered. NTSB probes typically stretch across many months before a final finding.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said late Sunday there was no ongoing threat to public safety. The FAA and NTSB inquiries continue.