A week after an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway at Miami International Airport, killing five people, investigators continue to collect evidence, and survivors are recounting what they experienced.
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Video captured the plane as it crashed just before 2 p.m. last Sunday after Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said it overran runway 30 at the airport.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said five people were taken to the hospital.
Three were critically injured, and two others were hospitalized with less severe injuries, officials said.
Roosevelt Torres is one of the survivors of the Amazon plane crash.
His lawyer Pablo Rojas recalls what he saw last Sunday.
“He was actually able to see the airplane approaching in the last final seconds,” Rojas said. I say approaching, barreling towards the van at a very high speed.”
On Friday, Torres and his wife, Gladys, filed a lawsuit against Amazon 21 Air, the cargo airline, as well as its related entities and the pilots, Captain Joseph Carroll and First Officer Jamie Felipe Silva Molina.
Torres believes they should be held accountable for the deaths of his five coworkers who were in the van with him when the plane crashed into them, flinging him into the air, and the impact crushed him.
Another lawsuit was filed by Javier Quisquivedo, one of the men who lost his life.
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His wife and 14-year-old daughter, who are in Cuba, are suing Amazon, the cargo airline and other related companies, according to their attorney, Carlos Silva.
“Just because they lived in Cuba, the mother and the child, who was 14, doesn’t mean that there’s any law in the United States that prohibits them from being able to bring a cause of action,” Silva said.
Yoel Naranjo’s wife also filed a lawsuit, claiming the crash was a systemic failure by defendants Amazon and 21 Air to ensure adequate pilot training, fitness and sound aeronautical decision making.
This comes after the National Transportation Safety Board has spent the week surveying the plane, recordings, video and other evidence.
The latest findings are that the plane touched down at 181 mph, while the normal landing speed for a Boeing 767 is closer to 155.
Late Friday, Amazon released a statement regarding the lawsuits, saying in part, “As the NTSB continues its investigation, we remain fully committed to supporting their work and that of all investigating authorities. We’re also continuing to coordinate closely with 21 Air, the carrier that operated the flight.
The plane remains at Miami International Airport, and it’s unclear when it will be removed.
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