A routine cargo arrival turned deadly Sunday at Miami International Airport when an Amazon-operated freighter ran beyond the runway after landing, slammed into vehicles and erupted in flames, killing at least five people, officials said.
Miami-Dade County fire chief Ray Jadallah told reporters that three additional people were taken to trauma centres “in critical condition,” while two others received treatment at a local hospital.
“The airplane did strike a couple of vehicles,” Mr Jadallah said, adding that the impact left “a couple of victims that were actually trapped in the vehicles.”
Rescuers faced what he described as “a complex extrication with our technical rescue team,” which also required “including a search and rescue of the pilot and co-pilot that were trapped in this aircraft.”
Mr Jadallah did not say whether the pilot or co-pilot survived, and officials declined to take questions after delivering brief remarks.
Footage from the scene showed heavy smoke pouring from the blue-and-white Boeing 767 after it arrived at 1:58 pm (1758 GMT) from Puerto Rico, as fire crews and emergency vehicles rushed to respond.
The aircraft, operating as Prime Air Flight 7598, caught fire because of the “crash,” fire officials said.
“A total of 60 fire apparatuses arrived, just short, just shy of 200 men and women from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, to begin the actual search and rescue and firefighting,” Mr Jadallah said.
In a statement posted to X Sunday evening, fire officials said foam was used to knock down flames in the engine compartment.
“One person was trapped under one of the involved vehicles and had to be extricated by specialized technical rescue personnel. Specialized hazardous materials (HazMat) units safely shut down the aircraft’s engine and worked to control a fuel leak,” the statement said.
The NTSB said in an X post on Sunday the B-767-300 cargo airplane was flying into Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico and they have “launched a go team to investigate Sunday’s runway excursion accident.”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement the company would cooperate with investigators examining what went wrong.
“We’re heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today’s incident at Miami International Airport. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss,” Ms Nantel said.
The airport shut down all runways and taxiways for several hours following the crash before reopening two runways, officials said.
