Witness Describes Miami Airport Plane Crash as ‘Something From a Movie’

Grace Mercado was looking at her cellphone when her partner suddenly asked, “Oh my goodness. Is that a plane crash?” She looked up and saw an Amazon cargo plane after it had overshot the runway at Miami International Airport, crossed a Miami-Dade street and come to a stop.

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Oh my goodness. Is that a plane crash?

The noise, she said, was unlike anything she had heard before. “It was extremely loud,” Mercado said. “It wasn’t anything that I’ve ever heard before. It was like a shake. Honestly, I can’t compare it to anything else.”

The aircraft was smoking, and the scene left her struggling to understand what she had witnessed. “It was just, it was like something from a movie. It was crazy,” she said. Mercado initially saw no ambulances near the crash, but emergency crews arrived in less than a minute. “It was absolutely insane.”

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It was extremely loud. It wasn’t anything that I’ve ever heard before. It was like a shake. Honestly, I can’t compare it to anything else.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said more than 60 units and about 200 personnel responded, with the first units arriving within seconds. Five people died and five others were injured. The identities of those killed have not been released.

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It was just, it was like something from a movie. It was crazy.

Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators will examine why the aircraft left the runway and crashed. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said its thoughts were with the victims, their families and those who were injured.

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There weren’t any ambulances or anything, but they ended up there in under a minute. It was absolutely insane.