The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed new details on Monday about the Amazon cargo plane accident at Miami International Airport, including that the aircraft struck at least two vehicles on the ground and that its crew members were able to survive.
According to the NTSB chair, Jennifer Homendy, one of the vehicles involved was a white Ford Econoline van belonging to a contracting company that provided cleaning services at the airport.
Seven people were traveling in that van when the collision occurred.
The aircraft also reached a second civilian vehicle after going past the end of the runway and crossing the airport perimeter.
The accident left five dead and five injured, some of whom are in critical condition, according to Miami-Dade authorities.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 767-300 from 21 Air, operating flight 7598 for Amazon Prime Air, and had arrived in Miami from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Homendy noted that the cargo plane traveled approximately 1,300 feet (about 396 meters) beyond the end of the paved runway before coming to a stop. Despite the severity of the accident and the subsequent fire of the aircraft, the crew survived.
The Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue Department mobilized around 60 units and approximately 200 personnel. The emergency teams found the plane engulfed in flames and worked on both extinguishing the fire and rescuing the victims.
Operations at MIA were temporarily halted by a ground stop order, which was lifted hours later to allow for a gradual resumption of activity.
The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are continuing their investigations to determine what caused the Boeing 767 to fail to stop within the airport boundaries.
The investigators recovered both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as "black boxes," which will be essential for reconstructing the final minutes of the flight and understanding what transpired in the cockpit.
The identities of the deceased individuals had not been publicly disclosed at the time of Monday's press conference.
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