Authorities have confirmed five fatalities after an Amazon Air cargo plane overshot the runway at Miami International Airport (MIA), crossed a nearby perimeter road, struck multiple vehicles, and caught fire, resulting in at least five deaths and five injuries.
The aircraft, a 32-year-old Boeing 767-300 cargo jet registered as N1997A, was operating as 21 Air Flight 7598 on behalf of Amazon Prime Air. It was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it overran Runway 30 at approximately 2:00 p.m. local time. “The FAA said the 21 Air flight overran the runway around 2 p.m. local time. The airline is a cargo carrier with an operations center in Miami that performs flights for companies like Amazon and DHL.
After breaking past the runway boundary, the heavy jet barrelled across a road and collided with several vehicles parked or driving near a local UPS facility on the northwest side of the airport grounds.
The aircraft is leased from Andromeda Leasing II LLC. It was previously dry-leased via Titan Aviation Leasing (a subsidiary of Atlas Air) and operated on behalf of Amazon Air (initially by Atlas Air, later transitioning operations to 21 Air in 2025). Built in 1994 as a passenger jet before conversion to a freighter, previously leased from AWAS earlier in its passenger career.
. Out of the five injured individuals rushed to the hospital, three remain in critical condition. Investigators are still clarifying whether the deceased were occupants of the struck vehicles or crew members on board the plane. “It wasn’t immediately clear whether the pilots survived or whether those killed were all in vehicles when the plane struck.” –
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately put a ground stop into effect for inbound flights while emergency response crews controlled the fire and secured the scene. While the initial ground stop was lifted later that evening, severe ground delays are expected to cascade into Monday due to the disabled aircraft and damaged navigational equipment near the runway.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the FAA have launched a full investigation into what caused the runway excursion. Preliminary checks showed no structural debris or aircraft parts left on the actual runway pavement before the overrun occurred.
