Amazon Cargo Plane Crashes at Miami Airport, Kills Five
An Amazon cargo plane, operated by 21 Air, veered off a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday and crashed, killing at least five people. The Prime Air plane had arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico, around 2 p.m., overrunning the runway and striking vehicles before bursting into flames.
The pilot and copilot were trapped in the plane, while some people were stuck inside nearby vehicles. Fire crews struggled to contain a fuel leak on the aircraft for several hours after the crash. A total of five people died, with three critically injured and two others hospitalized with less severe injuries.
More than 60 Miami-Dade Fire Rescue units responded to the scene, arriving to find the plane ablaze as they worked to extinguish the flames and assess patients. The Prime Air plane came to rest beside a roadway near two semi-trucks, which were also damaged in the crash.
The flight-tracking site Flightradar24 revealed that the 32-year-old Boeing 767 was originally built to carry passengers and flew for several airlines before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015. The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the incident, sending a team led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy.