A Boeing 767-300 cargo plane overran a runway while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, killing five people and injuring five others after it struck multiple vehicles and caught fire, officials said.
The aircraft, operating as 21 Air Flight 7598 under Amazon‘s Prime Air brand, had departed San Juan, Puerto Rico. Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz told reporters the plane went down around 1:58 p.m. ET, moments after it ran off the end of Runway 30.
Flight-tracking data put the plane’s speed at close to 130 miles per hour as it ran out of runway, and a review of the air traffic control recording found no indication the crew flagged trouble before touching down. The jet continued past the airfield boundary near Northwest 42nd Avenue and struck several vehicles. Two semi-trucks sat near where the wreckage finally stopped, in a field bordering the road, its tail draped over a perimeter fence. A fuel leak fed a large fire involving the engine compartments, Fire Rescue Chief Raied Jadallah said.
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Fire rescue sent more than 60 units to the scene. The wreckage trapped the two pilots, who had to be extracted before being taken to area hospitals. Of the five injured, three were rushed to a trauma center in critical condition. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop that lasted about three hours, and two of the airport’s four runways reopened within hours of the crash. By evening, flights arriving at the airport were running about six and a half hours behind schedule on average.
The National Transportation Safety Board, led by Chair Jennifer Homendy, is sending an investigative team, and the FAA is conducting its own review. The plane itself dated back 32 years — it carried passengers early in its life before operators converted it to cargo duty in 2015.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company was “heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives.” Amazon has no air operator certificate of its own, relying on contract carriers such as 21 Air to fly under the Prime Air brand.
