Federal investigators arrived in South Florida on Sunday to examine the circumstances behind a fatal aviation incident at Miami International Airport involving an Amazon cargo plane on Sunday afternoon.
As authorities work to piece together how the crash unfolded, people who were nearby are describing the terrifying moments when the aircraft went beyond the runway, slammed down and erupted in flames.
Grace Mercado said she was riding in a car with her partner behind the wheel when an alarming sound suddenly caught their attention.
According to Mercado, they heard a loud noise before her partner questioned whether they had just witnessed a plane crash.
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Mercado said she looked up from her phone and saw the Amazon cargo aircraft had overshot the runway, crossed a Miami-Dade roadway and finally came to rest.
She described the impact as overwhelmingly loud, saying it felt like a jolt unlike anything she had experienced before.
In the moments after, Mercado said she struggled to process what had happened in front of her.
She recalled seeing the plane covered in smoke, comparing the surreal scene to something out of a movie.
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And while first responders were nowhere to be seen at first, that changed quickly.
“There weren’t any ambulances or anything,” she said. “But they ended up there in under a minute. It was absolutely insane.”
Dozens of units, hundreds of personnel respond to crash at MIA
According to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, more than 60 MDFR units and about 200 personnel responded to the scene of the crash, with the first units arriving within seconds.
In total, five people were killed and five others were injured.
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“Our hearts are with the victims and their families following (Sunday’s) tragic cargo plane crash,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said in a statement. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and are keeping everyone who was injured in our thoughts and prayers.”
Mercado said that after the crash, she didn’t see any movement in or near the crashed airplane, but instead just saw a lot of smoke.
“It’s something you don’t see in real life,” she said. “So, it’s surreal.”
Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will work to try to figure out why the aircraft left the runway and crashed.
The identities of the victims have not yet been released.
