Five dead after Amazon cargo plane crashes at Miami airport

Five people were killed and five others injured when an Amazon Air cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, struck vehicles on a nearby road and caught fire. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed the toll at an evening news conference, adding that three of the injured were in critical condition and two had been taken to a local hospital.

The Boeing 767-300, operating as 21 Air Flight 7598, had departed from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and touched down just before 2 p.m. local time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft overran the airport’s diagonal runway and came to rest at the northwest end of the field, near a roadway used by warehouse workers and other businesses, a spokesperson for Miami International Airport said.

Miami-Dade Fire Chief Ray Jadallah described the crash as a “very complex situation,” with the plane hitting multiple vehicles and trapping several people inside or under them. The pilot and copilot were also trapped in the cockpit, he said. Fire crews arrived to find the aircraft engulfed in heavy flames and smoke, and more than 60 units responded. Hours later, firefighters were still dealing with a fuel leak from the plane.

The FAA issued a ground stop that halted all flights at the airport, and by late afternoon about 250 flights had been delayed, according to FlightAware. The airport said all runways and taxiways were closed as of 3 p.m. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the stop would allow responders to assess the scene and warned travelers to expect “significant delays and potential cancellations.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to Miami to investigate, with a media briefing planned for Monday. The FAA also said it would investigate. The cause had not been determined, though thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 30 mph were recorded in the area at the time, according to the National Weather Service.

Amazon confirmed the flight was operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina. “We’re heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport,” said Kelly Nantel, the company’s director of corporate global media relations. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss.”

The aircraft, a 32-year-old Boeing 767 originally built for passengers, had been converted to cargo use in 2015, according to flight-tracking site FlightRadar24. The crash occurred on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year, with the Transportation Security Administration predicting 2.3 million people would fly on Sunday alone.