Amazon cargo jet crash kills five airport cleaning workers in Miami runway overrun
A Boeing 767 freighter landing from San Juan overshot the runway at Miami International Airport, crashing through a perimeter fence into two ground vehicles and hospitalizing three others.
Runway excursion and ground collision
On Sunday afternoon, an Amazon cargo jet operated by 21 Air overshot the runway upon landing at Miami International Airport after a flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Boeing 767-300 freighter touched down as thunderstorms moved through the Miami area, skidding roughly 1,300 feet (about 396 metres) beyond the designated landing strip. The aircraft barrelled across an airport grass field, smashed through a perimeter security fence, and crossed a public roadway before coming to a stop near a parking lot. During the excursion, the cargo plane collided with a Ford Econoline shuttle van carrying seven airport cleaning contractors and struck a nearby sport utility vehicle on the roadway.
Victims and hospitalizations
Authorities confirmed that all five fatalities occurred among workers inside the shuttle van operated by Professional Ocean Service Corporation, an aircraft contract cleaning provider. Officials identified the five deceased personnel as Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; Rolando Alemán León, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; and Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, 53. Five other individuals sustained injuries, including three people who remained hospitalized: 32-year-old Ridoel Averhoff Díaz and 79-year-old Eugenio Corredor in critical condition, and 36-year-old Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres in stable condition. The two pilots aboard the cargo aircraft, identified as 37-year-old Jaime Felipe Silva Molina and 55-year-old Joseph Carol, were treated for injuries and released from the hospital.
Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz discussed the impact of the crash during a press conference on Tuesday.
So it's a very difficult time, and it's very difficult on each and every one of these families.
Federal safety inquiry and runway standards
The National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into the causes of the runway excursion, with federal teams examining flight data recorders recovered from the wreckage. Investigators scheduled interviews with both pilots and air traffic controllers for Wednesday morning. The federal probe also examines safety buffer mechanisms at Miami International Airport, which operates with a 1,000-foot (305-metre) safety buffer at the end of runways rather than the crushable concrete arrestor systems installed at 120 other domestic airports. The crash disrupted regional travel for three days before airport operations normalized.
- An Amazon cargo Boeing 767 overshoots the runway and collides with two vehicles
- NTSB investigators recover the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder
- Miami-Dade County authorities release the identities of the five deceased workers
- NTSB investigators begin formal interviews with the two flight crew members
National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy addressed the issue of runway excursion recommendations during a briefing on Monday.
Our recommendations must be implemented or we're going to be here again.
Contractor response and support efforts
Professional Ocean Service Corporation issued statements honoring the cleaning crew members, several of whom had moved from Cuba to work in Florida and provide financial support for their relatives. Company president Janette Suárez described the victims as dedicated workers whose everyday labor maintaining passenger aircraft often went unrecognized. Amazon stated that it is cooperating with the ongoing federal inquiry while offering condolences to the families of the workers killed and injured. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office is conducting a parallel investigation into the deaths that occurred on the ground.
