Five workers were killed and two others injured when a cargo plane operated for Amazon crashed into their van at Miami International Airport on Sunday. The Boeing 767-300, flown by 21 Air, overshot the runway upon landing after returning from San Juan, Puerto Rico, and collided with the vehicle near a public road adjacent to the airport.
The victims, all employed by Professional Ocean Service Corporation, were engaged in cleaning and maintenance work on the tarmac when the accident occurred. The deceased have been identified as Javierreks Reyes Quevedo, 47; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; Rolando Alemán León, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; and Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, 53. The injured workers—Ridoel Averhoff Díaz, 32; Eugenio Corredor, 79; and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36—were hospitalized and remained in care, according to Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. Additionally, the driver of an SUV struck by the aircraft also sustained injuries.
NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy called the incident “very tragic,” noting the unexpected nature of a van cleaning airplanes being involved in such a fatal collision. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the crash, with interviews of the flight crew scheduled to begin shortly and flight data from the aircraft’s black boxes currently under review.
Amazon representatives confirmed the company’s cooperation with authorities and expressed condolences to the families affected. A spokeswoman emphasized that Amazon’s leadership was coordinating with local emergency and medical officials in response to the tragedy.
The pilots, 37-year-old Jaime Felipe Silva Molina and 55-year-old Joseph Carroll, sustained minor injuries and were released from the hospital. Molina has been employed by 21 Air since 2025, according to publicly available professional profiles.
Many of those killed were Cuban immigrants who had worked for years in menial but vital roles supporting their families both in the U.S. and back home. Reyes Quevedo had been saving for a trip to visit his teenage daughter in Cuba for the first time in eight years. Rolando Alemán León had transitioned from hotel work to aircraft cleaning for better wages and was planning to move with his girlfriend to a new home in the Tampa Bay area.
Janette Suárez, president of Professional Ocean Service, acknowledged the often overlooked contributions of laborers like those who died. “When you sit in the plane, you don’t realize the work they do,” she said, highlighting the human toll behind the tragedy.
The crash disrupted travel at Miami International Airport over the Labor Day weekend. The aircraft remains at the site, and the road where the collision occurred is still closed as investigators continue examining the scene.