A cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, killing at least five people, injuring at least five others and causing the airport to shut down all runways for a few hours in the midst of the busy Labor Day weekend.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in a social media post, said that travelers moving through the area should “expect significant delays and potential cancellations.”
The plane appeared to have overshot the end of the runway and crashed into a number of vehicles. The Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue chief, Raied Jadallah, said at a news conference that several people were trapped in their vehicles.
It was unclear, as of early Sunday evening, if the dead and injured were on the plane or had been on the ground. Mr. Jadallah said that three of the injured were in critical condition and taken to a trauma center.
“What we found was a very complex situation here,” he said. Photos and videos taken Sunday showed blackish smoke billowing from the partially damaged plane.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said more than 60 units responded to the incident.
“Units arrived to find an airplane that had caught on fire as a result of this crash, with heavy flames and smoke showing,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement.
The Boeing 767-300 cargo aircraft, which is part of Amazon’s cargo fleet, departed from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and landed at the Miami airport just before 2 p.m. Eastern time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
Here’s what else we’re covering:
Air Traffic: The airport has reopened two of its four runways, but fliers were scrambling to rebook flights that were canceled. Read more ›
The carrier: Officials identified the carrier as Prime Air Flight 7598, operated by an airline called 21 Air. Amazon contracts out all of its cargo flights, with 21 Air operating eight of the 105 planes that are operated for Amazon Air, the retailer’s cargo airline, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. Read more ›
1997 crash: Sunday’s tragedy echoed an earlier crash that also killed five at Miami International Airport in August 1997. Read more ›
The airport: The incident cast a pall over Miami and its airport, an important gateway connecting South Florida to the rest of the world. The airport is about 10 miles from downtown Miami. It is America’s busiest airport for international freight, according to the airport’s website, generating $212 billion annually in business revenue.
Busy weekend: The crash happened during a busy Labor Day holiday weekend. The airport had more than 300 flights, outbound and inbound, that were delayed or canceled as of Sunday afternoon, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks flights.
