At the start of September, an Amazon cargo plane overran a runway at Miami International Airport by 1,300 feet and struck several vehicles before bursting into flames in a massive accident that caused the death of five cleaning crew workers who were traveling in a van on a nearby road.
Five other people suffered injuries of varying degrees of severity.
The Boeing 767 freighter plane running Flight 7598 from Puerto Rico was operated by 21 Air, a North Carolina cargo airline that provided airmail services for companies including DHL and Amazon.
Amid an ongoing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the accident, Amazon announced that it is suspending its partnership with 21 Air for the time being.
Amazon suspends partnership with 21 Air, says it is “supporting the investigation”
“After the tragic incident last weekend, we’ve spent time supporting the investigation and reviewing some of the surrounding circumstances, and we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air, the operator of Flight 7598,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a Sept. 13 statement to Reuters cited by CNBC. “We’ll continue working to support the investigation and everyone affected.”
Preliminary evidence released by the NTSB reveals cockpit voice recordings in which one pilot warns another that they are coming into the landing too fast, and a pilot suggests a go-around, which is the industry term for an aborted landing, approximately 15 seconds before the crash, Airline Geeks reported.
Both pilots survived the crash and were briefly hospitalized, during which they were interviewed by investigators.
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Amazon said it will use other partners, which include Sun Country Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, Air Transport International, ABX Air, ASL Airlines, and Cargojet, to transport its deliveries pending the NTSB investigation.
21 Air, meanwhile, issued a statement expressing sympathy with the victims of the crash and saying it is “working closely with the NTSB and all our partners, like Amazon, as the investigation continues,” NBC News confirmed.
21 Air responds: “We are confident in our safety policies”
“We are confident in our safety policies, procedures and training,” an 21 Air representative said further. Several senior employees had previously claimed they were fired from 21 Air after raising safety and procedural concerns with upper management, CBS reported.
The five people killed on the ground have been identified as Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
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Houston Astros baseball team owner Jim Crane was the primary owner of the airline through an LLC.
Roosevelt Torres, an employee of the same cleaning service who was injured in the crash, has filed a lawsuit with the cargo company and the two pilots.
“He was actually able to see the airplane approaching in the last final seconds,” Pablo Rojas, the attorney representing Torres in the lawsuit, said in a statement.
The widow of 53-year-old Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the plane company, according to CBS News.
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