An Amazon cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday and crashed into vehicles, killing at least five people, authorities said. The aircraft came to rest beside a roadway near semi-trucks after the crash, which sent thick black smoke into the air and halted flights at the busy hub for much of the afternoon.
The plane arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico and overran the runway around 2 p.m., according to Miami-Dade County officials. Five people were killed, three critically injured and two others hospitalized with less severe injuries, officials said at a news conference. It was too soon to determine whether the people who died were on board the plane or in the vehicles it struck, Miami officials said.
The crash trapped the pilot and copilot in the cockpit and some occupants in cars, said Miami-Dade Rescue Fire Chief Ray Jadallah. Another person was trapped under a vehicle, the agency said. Fire crews were still dealing with a fuel leak on the plane several hours after the crash, Jadallah said.
The Boeing 767, operated by cargo carrier 21 Air based in North Carolina, was built in 1994 and originally designed to carry passengers. It flew for several airlines for more than two decades before being converted to a cargo plane in 2015, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24. About 250 flights were delayed at the airport late Sunday afternoon, according to FlightAware.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team to Miami led by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to investigate. Amazon said in a statement it would cooperate with any investigation. "We're heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today's incident at Miami International Airport," the company said.
