Miami Airport Crash Victims Identified as Plane Cleaning Crew

The five people killed on Sunday when an Amazon cargo jet ran off the runway at Miami International Airport and crashed into a van were professional cleaners that serviced airplanes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

After overrunning the runway while landing, the cargo jet slammed into a van on airport property, careened through a fence, and then smashed into an SUV on a city street. The cleaning team, who ranged in age from 47 to 75, were all inside the van, which was used to shuttle cleaning crews to planes. The van belonged to Professional Ocean Service Corp., a company that cleans planes. Although the company declined to comment on the crash out of respect for the families who lost loved ones, it released a statement commemorating the employees.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved,” the statement read. “Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed.”

The accident occurred when the Amazon jet was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms brewed around the Miami airport. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the plane barreled roughly 1,300 feet past the end of the runway.

Five other people were injured in the crash, including two in the van who remained hospitalized as of Tuesday evening, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s an incredibly tragic incident that has occurred,” said Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. “One leaves their house to go to work, to visit family, to do what we normally do, without thinking that is even a possibility.”

The NTSB is investigating the crash and will focus on the lack of a system to slow and stop speeding jets. Miami is not one of the 120 U.S. airports that has lightweight, crushable material at the end of runways. The Federal Aviation Administration credits this system with saving around 500 lives.