At least five people are dead after an Amazon cargo plane skidded off the runway while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday. The vehicle hit several cars, releasing a thick column of black smoke as it caught fire. Five other people were injured in the accident, three of them in serious condition. Among the people taken to hospital there are also the two pilots of the cargo plane.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Raied Ray Jadallah explained that three injured people were in critical condition and were transported to a trauma center, while two other people were taken to a local hospital. Several of the victims were trapped in vehicles hit by the plane and had to be extracted from the cars.
The Fire Brigade intervened on site with 60 units and around 200 firefighters. Upon their arrival, they found the aircraft outside the operational area of the airport, engulfed in flames and with a large amount of smoke. Firefighters tackled a complex fire in the engine compartment and used foam from specialist airport fire units to put it out.
The dynamics of the accident are not yet clear, as the plane was unable to stop before the end of the runway and ended up hitting vehicles. According to data from tracking site Flightradar24, the plane was traveling at nearly 130 miles per hour (about 210 km/h) when it left the usable part of the runway.
The aircraft involved is a Boeing 767-300, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – which has launched an investigation into the incident – the plane went off the runway around 2pm local time after arriving from Luis Munoz Marìn international airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Boeing expressed its “deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims” of the plane crash involving an Amazon cargo ship after landing. «Our thoughts go to the injured and all those affected by this tragedy. The company is “cooperating with the investigation.” According to the airline, the 767-300 was originally delivered as a passenger aircraft in 1994 and then subsequently converted to a cargo aircraft “by a third party”. The National Transportation Safety Board also sent a response team to investigate the crash.
“We are working closely with local authorities and officials to understand exactly what happened,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.