By Bianca Flowers and Stephen Culp
CHICAGO, Sept 7 (Reuters) – At least five people died when an Amazon Prime Air cargo flight overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, local officials said.
Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the airport’s diagonal runway shortly before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) and struck multiple vehicles on the ground, officials said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon.
Five people were also injured in the crash, including three who are in critical condition, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. At least two people were trapped in vehicles that were struck by the plane, and the pilot and co-pilot were trapped inside the plane by the crash, Jadallah said.
Officials declined to identify those who died.
More than 60 rescue units and about 200 personnel responded to the incident, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement. As of late afternoon, emergency personnel were still dealing with a fuel leak from the aircraft, Jadallah said.
Although the airport halted all flights immediately after the crash, flights had resumed by Sunday evening.
The plane, which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, was a 32-year-old Boeing 767-300 freighter that had operated as a passenger jet for various airlines from 1994 to 2015, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.
Cargo airline 21 Air operated the plane for Amazon, an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are devastated by the accident involving one of our aircraft in Miami today,” 21 Air said on its website. “Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives.”
Reuters photos after the crash showed the jet with its nose on the ground and tail tilted up. The right side of the plane had what appeared to be scorch marks.
Flightradar24 said the plane was traveling at 112 knots (129 mph) when it exited the usable runway.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates U.S. civil aviation accidents, said it had sent a team led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to investigate the accident and would hold its first media briefing in Miami on Monday.
Amazon is still gathering details about what happened, company spokesperson Kelly Nantel said. “We’re working closely with local authorities and officials to understand exactly what happened,” Nantel said in a statement. “Right now, our absolute priority is the safety, well-being, and care of everyone involved.”
Boeing and 21 Air said they would support the government investigations into the crash.
Sunday’s incident is not the first time an Amazon Prime Air plane has been involved in a fatal crash. In February 2019, Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767-300 freighter operating on behalf of Amazon Prime Air from Miami to Houston, entered a rapid descent and crashed into Trinity Bay, Texas. All three people on board were killed.
Miami, a major hub for trade with Latin America, is the third-busiest freight airport in the United States after Anchorage in Alaska and Louisville in Kentucky, according to the Airports Council International.
Freight shipments totalled nearly 3.5 million metric tons last year and passenger traffic reached 55.3 million, the eighth-busiest airport in the nation, according to the airport in June.
In November, a UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Kentucky killing 15 people, including three crew members and 12 on the ground.
(Reporting by Bianca Flowers in Chicago, Stephen Culp in New York, Joe Brock in Los Angeles, Chandni Shah in Bengaluru, Katharine Jackson in Washington, Brad Brooks in Colorado and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Edmund Klamann, Paul Simao, Jamie Freed and Mark Potter)
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