Five Cubans who had rebuilt their lives in the United States died on Sunday when an Amazon cargo plane veered off the runway at Miami International Airport and crashed into the van they were returning in after finishing their workday.
Behind the names of the victims were parents, grandparents, and workers who supported their families both inside and outside the United States. According to a report by The New York Times, they all worked for Professional Ocean Service Corporation, an airport cleaning company.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office identified the deceased as Javierky Reyes Quevedo, age 47; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, age 53; Rolando Alemán León, age 55; Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, age 53; and Julio C. Pineda, age 75.
The five were traveling with two other companions in a van after finishing an eight-hour shift when the Boeing 767-300, operated by 21 Air for Amazon, crashed through a perimeter fence and a road before colliding with the vehicle.
Javierky Reyes Quevedo arrived in Miami in 2019 from Guanabacoa, Havana. He was saving to travel to Cuba in December to celebrate his daughter's 15th birthday, whom he had not seen for eight years.
She also provided financial support to her mother, 69 years old, who was hospitalized on the island.
His friend Emilio Varó remembered him with a phrase that reflects the void left by his death: "My best friend, the only one I have in this country."
Rolando Alemán León, originally from Cienfuegos, had only been working for the company since January. He planned to move in with his partner to a house they had both purchased in the Tampa area.
«He was very family-oriented, he loved his family very much,» his sister told Telemundo 51 from Cienfuegos.
Yameli Mora, her partner in Miami, summarized the impact for their loved ones: "We have no words to explain such pain."
Julio C. Pineda, 75 years old and the only one for whom we have not found photographs, was the eldest of the deceased. He had arrived in the United States from Cuba in May 2001 and had two children.
His neighbors remember him as a cheerful man, fond of telling jokes and performing magic tricks. "They called him the magician," one of them said.
Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo arrived in the United States in 2011 and worked in various jobs for 14 years to support his family.
On Sunday, he was supposed to return home after his shift, which started at six in the morning. When he didn't arrive, his wife, Yaraisi Santiso Morejón, began sending him messages. Noticing that he wasn't responding, she found the first reports about the accident in the news.
This Wednesday, Santiso filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon, 21 Air, and the two pilots of the plane, seeking damages exceeding $50,000.
The family of Carlos Acosta Fajardo described him, in a statement released by his lawyers, as "an extraordinary human being, a loving husband, a devoted son, a cherished friend, and a valued work partner."
Janette Suárez, president of Professional Ocean Service, urged that the victims not be remembered solely as workers who were at the scene of the accident.
"When you sit on the plane, you don’t realize the work they do. They have lives. They are people: parents, grandparents, uncles," he stated.
Two remain hospitalized
The other two workers traveling in the van, Ridoel Averhoff Díaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastián Perdomo Torres, 36, survived the accident and remain hospitalized, according to the Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office.
Díaz is in critical condition, while Torres is stable.
Eugenio Corredor, 79 years old, also remains hospitalized; he was traveling in a Toyota that was hit during the accident and is in critical condition.
The Miami Herald identified the pilots of the Boeing 767-300 as Joseph Carroll, 55, and Jaime Filipe Silva Molina, 37, after cross-referencing the names provided by the Sheriff’s Office with the pilot records of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Carroll is listed as the pilot and captain of 21 Air, the cargo company operating the flight for Amazon, while Silva Molina is identified as the first officer of the airline. According to his professional profile cited by the newspaper, the latter studied aerospace engineering in Colombia and conducts domestic and international flights for the company.
The National Transportation Safety Board recovered the black boxes from the airplane and began interviewing the crew on Wednesday as part of the investigation to determine what caused the aircraft to exit the runway.
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