Federal investigators are working to piece together the harrowing moments leading up to a deadly cargo plane crash at Miami International Airport that left five people dead and five others injured. The aircraft, a Boeing 767 operated by Amazon Air, overshot the runway on Sunday while arriving from Puerto Rico. According to Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, the scene was nothing short of devastating, characterized by scattered debris and destroyed fencing.
The disaster unfolded when Flight 7598 careened past the end of the runway, smashing through navigational equipment before colliding with a white Ford van used by a contract cleaning company. Seven people were inside the van at the time of impact. The momentum of the aircraft carried it further beyond the airport perimeter where it struck a Toyota Corolla traveling along 67th Avenue. The plane eventually came to a stop approximately 1,300 feet past the runway threshold.
Eyewitnesses described the event as surreal and cinematic. One woman nearby recalled hearing an extremely loud noise that felt like a physical shake, prompting her partner, a firefighter, to ask in disbelief if they had just witnessed a plane crash. While emergency services arrived within minutes, officials say the primary focus remains the grim task of recovering victims from the wreckage. Two of the airport’s four runways remained closed on Monday, causing significant disruptions for travelers throughout the region.
As part of their formal inquiry, NTSB investigators have already recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. They are now scrutinizing several critical factors, including weather conditions at the time of landing and whether an Engineered Materials Arrestor System could have prevented such a catastrophic overrun. Additionally, officials intend to examine the contractual relationship between Amazon and 21 Air, the company contracted to handle the transport logistics, to determine how safety protocols were managed between the two entities.