A truck driver working near the Miami International Airport became a firsthand witness to the accident that occurred on Sunday, leaving five dead and five injured, when a cargo plane from Amazon Air veered off the runway and caught fire.
His account, exclusively obtained by Telemundo 51, reconstructs the initial and chaotic moments of the tragedy.
"The 'pum' was heard": the moment of impact
The man described that he and his colleagues were about to finish their shift when everything changed in a matter of seconds.
"We were getting ready to leave and suddenly we heard the boom," the truck driver told Telemundo 51.
According to their testimony, the noise was followed by a tremor, smoke, and fire, signs that quickly made the seriousness of the situation evident.
"As we work next to the airport, one always gets used to seeing the planes flying at a low level. Apparently, this one exceeded that and the moment we realized it, we heard the explosion, the tremor, the smoke, the fire," he stated.
The truck driver explained that, due to working near the airport, he was accustomed to observing aircraft at low altitudes. However, this time the situation ended in tragedy.
The chaos that followed the accident
After the impact, the area became a scene of confusion. The truck driver described what he saw around him in the moments following the accident.
"They were already running back and forth, with everything in the area being affected, including the vehicles, and down there were two trucks that were stopped; I don't know if they had any impact with them," he reported.
The witness stated that he did not know whether the aircraft had collided with those trucks. The flight 7598 of 21 Air, coming from San Juan, Puerto Rico, crossed a road adjacent to the airport and collided with several vehicles near the 2100 block of Northwest 42nd Avenue before catching fire.
Data from the FlightRadar24 tracking system revealed that the aircraft was traveling at 112 knots —about 207 kilometers per hour— at the time it departed from the usable runway. There were light storm conditions and gusty winds in Miami when the accident occurred.
"At any moment, it could be us."
In addition to describing what happened, the truck driver shared the emotional impact of having witnessed the tragedy up close.
“It’s a bit difficult because you can’t shake the thought that at any moment it could be us,” he confessed.
His reflection shows the impact that the accident had on those who were working in the vicinity of the airport and witnessed the incident.
The emergency operation
The Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department deployed more than 60 units and approximately 200 personnel to address the emergency.
The rescuers found the aircraft ablaze upon arrival, battled a complex fire in the engine area, controlled an active fuel leak, and rescued a person who was trapped beneath one of the vehicles.
The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, confirmed at a press conference that at least five people lost their lives and five others were injured, three of them in critical condition, according to Fire Chief Raied Jadallah.
The two pilots of the plane were taken to Jackson South Medical Center, while three other individuals were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The research and the impact at the airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have opened investigations to determine the causes of the accident.
The U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, ordered a complete suspension of operations at the airport and warned travelers to expect significant delays and possible cancellations.
The incident occurred during the Labor Day weekend, one of the busiest air traffic periods of the year in the United States, with 17 million travelers expected at the country's airports that week.
Hours after the accident, two of the four runways at the airport were reopened.
Amazon confirmed that the aircraft belonged to Amazon Air and was operated by 21 Air, a cargo air transport company based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Both companies stated that they were fully cooperating with the investigation.
The NTSB is expected to provide its preliminary conclusions on Monday regarding the causes that led the Boeing 767-300 to overshoot the runway and trigger the tragedy.
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