Two of Miami International Airport's four runways remained closed Monday morning following a fatal accident in which an Amazon Air cargo plane overran a runway during landing, struck multiple vehicles and caught fire, leaving five people dead and five seriously injured. The aircraft was operated by North Carolina-based 21 Air. Runway excursions — when an aircraft leaves the end or side of a runway — are among the most common types of aviation accidents worldwide, according to the International Air Transport Association, and NTSB investigations into fatal runway overruns typically take a year or more to produce a final report with a probable cause.

In an alert on its website, Miami airport said flight operations will continue to be impacted throughout the day because of the runway closures and the Federal Aviation Administration's temporary suspension of flight activity on Sunday, which prevented aircraft and flight crews from arriving on schedule. Local news accounts reported that some flights were diverted to Orlando International Airport. The disruption carries broader logistical weight: Miami is one of the busiest cargo airports in the United States and a primary gateway for freight moving between the U.S. mainland, Latin America and the Caribbean — the same network the crashed flight was serving on its route from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office posted on X at about 9:30 a.m. ET that NW 67th Avenue between NW 25th Street and NW 36th Street on the northwest end of the airport also remains closed.

The aircraft, a Boeing 767-300 medium widebody freighter operated by charter operator 21 Air, was flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it overran the runway around 2 p.m., according to the FAA. The plane was traveling 130 mph when it left the usable portion of the runway. Pilots did not declare an emergency before landing, according to reporting by CNN. The diagonal runway the plane landed on is more than 9,000 feet long.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it has sent a team of experts to investigate the runway excursion.

More than 200 emergency personnel responded to the accident and extinguished the blaze, but were still dealing with a fuel leak hours later. One person was trapped under one of the involved vehicles and had to be extricated by specialized technical rescue personnel, according to the Miami-Dade County Fire & Rescue Department on the X platform.

Footage shows the moment that the 21 Air Flight 7598 overran the runway and crashed at Miami International Airport. Per reports, at least 5 individuals are dead with an unspecified number of injuries. pic.twitter.com/cOKhKwoTwh — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 7, 2026 (https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2096753873163575431?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

The cause has yet to be determined. Thunderstorms and wind gusts up to 30 mph were recorded in the area at the time, according to the National Weather Service, but it is unclear whether weather played a role in the incident.

"We are devastated by the accident involving one of our aircraft in Miami today. Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives. Our immediate priorities are supporting those affected, assisting the authorities, and ensuring that accurate information is communicated as it becomes available," 21 Air CEO Keith Winters said in a statement posted on the company's website. "We are cooperating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and local authorities. The circumstances of the accident are under investigation."

21 Air is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, but its main operating base is at Miami International Airport. It is owned by Jim Crane, a longtime logistics executive who owns Crane Worldwide Logistics and the Houston Astros professional baseball team.

The airline began flying for Amazon in November 2024. It currently operates nine freighter aircraft, according to the Aero Transport Data Bank. Earlier this year it had 16 aircraft, but has since leased some planes to other carriers.

The 767-300 (registration N1997A) that crashed Sunday was built in 1994 and flew for passenger airlines before being converted in 2015 to carry cargo on the main deck. It was the first plane Amazon placed in its fleet in 2016 when it launched a private cargo airline to expedite the delivery of e-commerce packages around the country. Amazon has a fleet of more than 100 cargo jets, but it is not an airline in the strictest sense. The company does not have an air operating certificate or its own pilots and instead outsources flying to contractors such as 21 Air.

"We're heartbroken to learn that five people lost their lives in today's incident at Miami International Airport," Amazon said in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies go out to the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating loss."

Aviation experts who saw video of the landing and spoke to the Associated Press questioned why the pilot didn't abort the landing and go around if he or she was having trouble getting the plane to touch down. What investigators find — including decisions made in the cockpit, weather conditions and runway surface factors — will be closely watched by the air-cargo industry, where the accident comes amid a broader stretch of scrutiny following other freighter crashes.

In November, a UPS McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 freighter crashed after losing an engine during takeoff at Louisville International Airport in Kentucky. That crash killed three people on the plane and 12 people on the ground.

Source: FreightWaves