A truck driver working near the Miami International Airport became a firsthand witness to the accident that left five dead and five injured on Sunday, when a cargo plane from Amazon Air veered off the runway and caught fire.
His account, obtained exclusively by Telemundo 51, reconstructs the initial and chaotic moments of the tragedy.
"The 'thud' 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 his testimony, the noise was followed by a tremor, smoke, and fire, signs that quickly made the seriousness of the situation evident.
"Since we work next to the airport, one is always accustomed to seeing planes flying at a low altitude. Apparently, this one crossed that limit, and at the moment you realized it, you heard the explosion, the tremor, the smoke, the fire," he stated.
The truck driver explained that, due to working near the airport, he was used to observing aircraft at low altitude. However, this time the situation ended in tragedy.
The chaos that followed the accident
After the impact, the area turned into 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 an impact on everyone in the area; there were two trucks down there that were stopped, and I don't know if they collided with them," he narrated.
The witness stated that he was unaware if the aircraft had collided with those trucks. The flight 7598 from 21 Air, coming from San Juan, Puerto Rico, crossed an adjacent road to the airport and collided with several vehicles in the vicinity of block 2100 of Northwest 42nd Avenue before catching fire.
FlightRadar24 tracking data revealed that the aircraft was traveling at 112 knots —approximately 207 kilometers per hour— at the moment it left the usable runway. In Miami, there were light storm conditions and gusty winds when the accident occurred.
“At any moment, it could be us.”
In addition to describing what happened, the truck driver shared the emotional impact that witnessing the tragedy up close left on him.
“It’s something difficult because you keep thinking that at any moment it could be us,” she confessed.
His reflection highlights 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 respond to the emergency.
Rescue teams found the aircraft ablaze upon arrival, battled a complex fire in the engine area, controlled an active fuel leak, and rescued a person who had become trapped beneath one of the vehicles.
The mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava, confirmed at a press conference that at least five people have lost their lives and another five were injured, three of them in critical condition, according to Fire Chief Raied Jadallah.
The two pilots of the plane were transferred to Jackson South Medical Center, while three other people were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
The research and the impact at the airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 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 travel periods of the year in the United States, with 17 million travelers expected at airports across the country 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 airline based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Both companies stated they were fully cooperating with the investigation.
The NTSB is expected to present its initial preliminary conclusions this Monday regarding the causes that led the Boeing 767-300 to overshoot the runway and trigger the tragedy.
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