in brief
- An Amazon cargo plane has overshot a runway at Miami International Airport.
- Video showed thick smoke billowing from the blue and white Boeing 767.
An Amazon cargo plane has barrelled off a runway at Miami International Airport, killing at least five people as it struck vehicles and burst into flames.
Miami-Dade County fire chief Ray Jadallah told reporters that in addition to five deaths, three people were transported to trauma centres "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.
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Video showed thick smoke billowing from the blue and white Boeing 767 that had arrived around 4am AEST Monday from Puerto Rico, as fire trucks raced to the scene.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the tech giant will cooperate with any investigation into the incident.
"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," Nantel said.
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.
"The actual cause of the incident will be determined by the FAA and the NTSB," he added, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.
The NTSB said in an X post on Sunday that the B-767-300 cargo aeroplane was flying into Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and it has "launched a go team to investigate Sunday's runway excursion accident".
The airport closed all runways and taxiways due to the incident and posted an update on its website that travellers should check directly with their airline before heading to the airport.
After hours of holding all flights at the international airport with numerous delays and cancelled flights for commercial airline passengers, the Miami Herald newspaper reported that two of the airport's four runways had later reopened.
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