Five members of a plane‑cleaning crew were killed when an Amazon cargo jet smashed into their van at Miami International Airport as they wrapped up an eight‑hour shift, according to lawyers for one of the victims. Two other workers in the van remained hospitalized in critical condition as of Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators’ early account
Investigators said the jet “appeared to be reconsidering a landing” on Sunday before running out of runway. Details about the sequence of events and cause have not been released.
The victims and survivors
Those killed were identified as Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47. The survivors were named as Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36; both were in critical condition Tuesday, the sheriff’s office said.
Wrongful‑death suit names Amazon, 21 Air, pilots
Attorney Jorge Garcia, a friend of Naranjo’s family, said he filed a wrongful‑death lawsuit on their behalf against Amazon, 21 Air (which operated the plane), and the pilots. Garcia said Naranjo came to the U.S. from Cuba in 2011 and worked multiple jobs over the past 14 years. Naranjo’s scheduled shift with Professional Ocean Service Corp. was 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Garcia said, adding that Naranjo’s wife began frantically texting him when he did not arrive home and later saw news of the crash.
“[He was] a very hardworking man, very loved by his wife, very loved by his son, and as you can imagine what they’ve gone through is really unimaginable,” Garcia said during an online news conference.
Inside a grueling job
Professional Ocean Service Corp., which has cleaned planes at Miami International Airport for at least 15 years, said in a statement, “Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved.” The company cleans and disinfects the inside and outside of private and commercial jets; its workers can also replace carpet and paint cabins, according to photos on its website.
Soma Priddle, a retired commercial airline captain and attorney who represents pilots and other aviation workers, described the pace cleaning crews face: “They’re in a van. They get rushed to the airplane and are standing by on the jetway when the airplane arrives. The minute the passengers are off, their foreman is rushing them to get into that airplane to grab every piece of trash, do a wipe down of the bathrooms and countertops, and get the heck out of there.”
Priddle said crews can be exposed to harsh cleaners, bodily fluids and other contaminants inside planes, and to hydraulic fluid, jet fuel and de‑icing fluids outside. Tight turnaround times drive the pressure, she said: “It’s a god‑awful job. They work long hours. They’re just pushed and pushed and pushed.”
Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union, said typical workers have little experience and earn close to minimum wage with no benefits. “It’s an incredibly hard job and not as well compensated as it should be,” he said. The union said it did not represent the Miami workers. A 32BJ report this year focused on Charlotte Douglas International Airport found shortages left crews feeling rushed, and that more than half had been on the job a year or less.
Reporting adapted from the Associated Press via Headline USA. All claims and quotes are attributed as stated in the source material.
