MIAMI: At least five people were killed when an Amazon cargo plane overshot a runway after it landed on Sunday at Miami International Airport, crashed into vehicles and caught fire, officials said.
Miami-Dade County fire chief Ray Jadallah told reporters that in addition to five fatalities, three people were transported to trauma centers “in critical condition” and two more were treated at a local hospital.
“The airplane did strike a couple of vehicles,” which left “a couple of victims that were actually trapped in the vehicles,” Jadallah said. “A complex extrication with our technical rescue team” was needed, “including a search and rescue of the pilot and co-pilot that were trapped in this aircraft.” Jadallah did not clarify whether the pilot or co-pilot survived, and officials declined to answer questions after brief statements were made.
Video showed thick smoke billowing from the blue and white Boeing 767 after it arrived at 1:58pm from Puerto Rico, as fire trucks raced to the scene. The plane operating as Prime Air Flight 7598 caught fire as a result 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,” Jadallah said.
