By Bianca Flowers and Stephen Culp
CHICAGO, Sept 6 (Reuters) – At least five people died when an Amazon Prime Air cargo flight overran a runway and crashed while landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday, local officials said.
Prime Air Flight 7598 overran the airport’s diagonal runway shortly before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) and struck multiple vehicles on the ground, officials said during a news conference on Sunday afternoon.
Amazon and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department earlier confirmed that an incident occurred as the plane was trying to land.
Five people were also injured in the crash, including three who are in critical condition, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. At least two people were trapped in vehicles that were struck by the plane, and the pilot and co-pilot were trapped inside the plane by the crash, Jadallah said.
Officials declined to identify those who died.
More than 60 rescue units and about 200 personnel responded to the incident, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement. As of late afternoon, emergency personnel were still dealing with an active fuel leak from the aircraft, Jadallah said.
Although the airport halted all flights immediately after the crash, two of its four runways had been reopened by Sunday evening.
The plane was a Boeing 767-300 that had departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Cargo airline 21 Air operated the plane for Amazon, an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.
The cargo airline did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Reuters photos after the crash showed the jet with its nose on the ground and tail tilted up. The right side of the plane had what appeared to be scorch marks.
Amazon is still gathering details about what happened, company spokesperson Kelly Nantel said. “We’re working closely with local authorities and officials to understand exactly what happened,” Nantel said in a statement. “Right now, our absolute priority is the safety, well-being, and care of everyone involved.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate the crash.
Sunday’s incident is not the first time an Amazon Prime Air plane has been involved in a fatal crash. In February 2019, Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767-300 freighter operating on behalf of Amazon Prime Air from Miami to Houston, entered a rapid descent and crashed into Trinity Bay. All three people on board were killed.
(Reporting by Bianca Flowers in Chicago, Stephen Culp in New York, Chandni Shah in Bengaluru, Katharine Jackson in Washington and Brad Brooks in Colorado; Editing by Sergio Non, Edmund Klamann and Paul Simao)
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