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An Amazon cargo plane overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, striking several vehicles before bursting into flames. The incident resulted in five deaths and five injuries.
What was supposed to be a routine cargo flight between Puerto Rico and Florida turned into an air disaster on Sunday, September 6, 2026. Around 2:00 p.m. local time, a Boeing 767-300 operated by 21 Air for Amazon Prime Air overran Runway 30 at Miami International Airport after landing, having taken off a few hours earlier from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
According to local authorities, the aircraft was traveling at approximately 130 miles per hour (about 210 km/h) when it overran the runway. It struck several vehicles in an area near the airport before coming to rest in a nearby field, engulfed in flames. Thick plumes of black smoke rose above the site, visible from several surrounding neighborhoods.
A heavy death toll and a large-scale rescue operation
Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed at an evening press conference that at least five people had died and five others had been injured, three of them critically and transported to a trauma center. Authorities did not immediately specify whether the victims were on board the aircraft or in the vehicles that crashed to the ground.
More than 60 Miami-Dade firefighters were mobilized. Some people, trapped in their vehicles, had to be extricated by specialized technical rescue teams. An active fuel leak was also reported at the site before being brought under control. The search also focused on the two crew members who were in the cockpit, whose fate has not yet been publicly disclosed.
The incident caused ground operations to be halted for approximately three hours, resulting in more than 450 flights at Miami airport being disrupted by delays and cancellations during the peak Labor Day weekend period.
Amazon apologizes
In a statement, an Amazon spokesperson expressed her sadness at the loss of five lives and offered her condolences to the victims’ families. For his part, 21 Air CEO Keith Winters said he was “devastated” by the accident involving one of his fleet’s aircraft, adding that the company was fully cooperating with federal authorities. According to the aviation analysis firm Cirium, 21 Air operates a fleet of eight Boeing 767s for Amazon Air.
A federal investigation launched
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have each opened an investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the runway excursion. At this stage, no specific cause has been released: weather conditions, technical failure, insufficient braking, or human error are among the possibilities typically considered in this type of incident. Preliminary results are not expected for several weeks, or even months, as NTSB investigations of this type of event typically take a long time.
A year already marked by several air accidents in the United States
This latest tragedy reignites the debate on American air safety, in a context where several serious incidents have already been recorded since January. According to federal data from the NTSB, 609 air accidents, across all categories (commercial aviation, cargo, business jets, training flights, and private aviation), had already been recorded in the United States between January 1 and September 7, 2026, a figure that does not yet include the Miami accident.
Here is a chronological recap of the major incidents that occurred at or around U.S. airports, or involving U.S. aircraft, this year:
March 22, 2026 – LaGuardia Airport, New York: An Air Canada Express regional jet (Flight 8646), arriving from Montreal, collided with a Port Authority fire truck responding to a separate emergency. The crash killed both pilots and injured dozens of the 41 passengers and crew members on board.
May 14, 2026 – Lincoln, New Mexico: A Beech C90 air ambulance crashed while transporting a patient. Both pilots and two medical personnel on board were killed. The NTSB investigation is ongoing.
June 15, 2026 – Edwards Air Force Base, California: A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber crashed shortly after takeoff during a radar modernization test mission. All eight occupants were killed in one of the deadliest military accidents of the year in the United States.
June 16, 2026 – Laredo, Texas: A small plane crashed on Loop 20 shortly after 10 p.m., killing one of the six occupants and injuring five law enforcement officers who responded to the scene, before the aircraft burst into flames.