Authorities reported that at least five people died and five others were hurt after an Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo aircraft missed the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, hitting several vehicles and catching fire.
Footage from the site captured flames and dense black smoke billowing from the aircraft. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a Sunday evening release that over 60 units and roughly 200 staff responded, arriving to see a plane engulfed in heavy flames and smoke.
During an afternoon press briefing, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said the fire had been contained and posed no further danger to the public.
It was not immediately clear on Sunday how many occupants were aboard the aircraft, nor whether the victims were on the ground, and officials did not name the deceased.
An Amazon spokesperson stated that an Amazon Air aircraft operated by 21 Air had an incident while trying to land at Miami International Airport.
“This is a rapidly evolving situation and we are still gathering details,” spokesperson Kelly Nantel wrote in an X post around 4 p.m., adding, “We are cooperating closely with local authorities and officials to determine exactly what happened.”
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue reported that three of the five injured were taken to a trauma center, while the remaining two were transported to local hospitals.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said HazMat teams safely shut down the aircraft’s engine.
“Firefighters faced a complex engine‑compartment fire and used foam from specialized airport units to put out the flames,” the agency said. “Crews also performed search‑and‑rescue operations for the pilots and co‑pilots inside the cockpit while searching for and assessing victims across the scene.”
Information known about the plane and its flight so far
According to Flightradar24, the aircraft departed Puerto Rico at noon and arrived in Miami around 2 p.m. The site indicated it was moving at 112 knots when it left the usable runway, and weather reports noted thunderstorms and strong gusts at the time of the accident.
The aircraft was a Boeing 767‑300 freighter, registration N1997A, originally delivered as a passenger jet in 1994 to the defunct Belgian carrier Sobelair. It subsequently served several airlines before being converted into a freighter by a non‑Boeing third party and returning to service in 2016, meaning it had been operated and maintained by various companies for three decades prior to Sunday’s crash.
“Boeing offers its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who perished in the Miami accident,” the company said. “We are thinking of the injured and all those affected by this tragedy, and we are supporting the investigation conducted by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X around 4 p.m. that a full ground stop was in effect “while first responders assess the scene.” The aircraft remained disabled at the northwest side of the airport. The airport partially reopened Sunday evening, though runway 30 stayed closed, and the FAA warned passengers to anticipate at least six hours of delays.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue radio transmissions on Broadcastify indicated that the plane crossed 67th Avenue, a nearby road, before colliding with a truck.
“We have a patient trapped,” a first responder said, according to the recordings.
First responders worked quickly to secure a reliable water supply as they attempted to control the fire on the aircraft, according to the recordings.
A command dispatcher repeatedly asked first responders to enter the plane, according to the recordings, and the fire was largely extinguished by 2:08 p.m.
“I need you to begin entry with your crew so we can shut down the engine,” the command dispatcher said, according to the recordings, adding, “I believe the pilots are out of the aircraft.”
A first responder noted in the recordings that one pilot was with him in a parking lot, while another said the pilot was speaking with firefighters at the scene to demonstrate how to shut down the engine.
This is the second 767 cargo plane to crash in Amazon’s Prime Air fleet. In 2019, an Atlas Air freighter operating for Amazon crashed into Trinity Bay near Houston, killing the three people aboard. The NTSB attributed that accident to in‑flight loss of control caused by pilot error.
Aditi Bharade contributed reporting to this story.