MIAMI — Harrowing video captures the moment officers discovered a survivor inside a crushed vehicle after an Amazon cargo plane veered off a runway and slammed into it at Miami International Airport.
Five people died and five others were hurt, including three critically, when the Boeing 767 tore off the runway at 129 mph and plowed into vehicles shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday.
“Rescue! We’ve got one breathing!” an emergency responder shouts in the footage, as an officer wearing a vest marked “POLICE US Customs and Border Protection” crouches beside the badly mangled vehicle and peers inside.
Moments later, another person can be heard yelling, “He’s alive!” before the first responder repeats, “He’s alive, he’s breathing!”
As rescuers worked through the wreckage, someone asks, “Is there anyone else in there?”
An officer in a brown Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office uniform is later seen moving toward the damaged vehicle, with ambulances and what appear to be other wrecked vehicles visible in the background.
Vehicle debris is scattered across a grassy area as the camera turns toward the Prime Air aircraft, operated by 21 Air, which had been arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when the crash unfolded.
The video also shows fire crews spraying water on the plane, while long skid marks cut through the grass leading to the spot where the Boeing 767 finally stopped.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are working to determine why the plane did not come to a stop after it landed on runway 30, which is more than 9,000 feet long.
One likely area of focus is expected to be whether the plane touched down too late for it to be able to stop safely.
Typically, the landing zone is within the first 3,000 feet of the runway.
Investigators also expected to check whether tailwinds on what was a stormy day in South Florida contributed to the disaster.
An eyewitness said those around the crash site Sunday feared the jet would explode after it plowed across a road used by businesses and warehouse workers.
“Everything just went chaotic as soon as the plane fell, people all around, smoke everywhere, it’s a horrific experience,” truck driver Romiersky Rodriguez told the NBC affiliate WTVJ.
“I couldn’t get close enough because we were scared that the plane was going to blow up.”
