The widow of a van driver killed when an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway at Miami International Airport has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Amazon, the aircraft’s operator and its two pilots.
Yaraisi Santiso Morejon is seeking damages of more than $50,000 over the death of her husband, Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53, who was driving a cleaning-company van struck by Amazon Air Flight 7598 on September 6.
The Boeing 767, operated by North Carolina-based 21 Air, had arrived from San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it ran beyond the end of Runway 30, crashed through a fence and hit vehicles on a nearby road. Five people were killed and five others injured.
The lawsuit, filed in the Circuit Court of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, names Amazon Inc, Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air LLC, companies linked to the aircraft’s operation and leasing, and pilots Joseph Carroll and Jaime Felipe Silva Molina.
It alleges that the disaster was caused by several failures, including pilot error, inadequate training and the use of a 32-year-old aircraft. The complaint states: “This disaster was not an unavoidable accident. It was the foreseeable and preventable result of multiple, concurrent failures.”
The claims have not been tested in court. Amazon has said it is co-operating with the investigation, while 21 Air has said it is co-operating fully with the National Transportation Safety Board probe.
Investigation into Amazon cargo plane crash continues
NTSB investigators said flight data indicated that the crew may have briefly attempted to abort an unstable landing before trying to stop the aircraft. The plane’s thrust reversers were not used, according to information released by the safety board.
Investigators recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and were due to interview the pilot and co-pilot on Wednesday, as they examine what happened in the seconds before the jet left the runway. The NTSB has stressed that the investigation remains ongoing.
All five people who died were travelling in a van operated by Professional Ocean Service Corp, which provides aircraft-cleaning services. The victims were identified as Naranjo, Rolando Aleman Leon, 55, Julio C Pineda, 75, Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53, and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
Lawyers for Naranjo’s family said he had arrived in the United States from Cuba in 2011 and worked several jobs to support his family. He had been completing a shift cleaning aircraft at the airport when the crash occurred.
John Morgan, founder of the law firm Morgan & Morgan, said the lawsuit was the beginning of efforts to establish responsibility for Naranjo’s death.
“No one should lose their loved one this way,” he said. “We will not rest until everyone who played a role in this horrific crash is held accountable.”
Mike Morgan, another lawyer representing the widow, said the firm alleged that the crash was “not a freak accident, but a foreseeable and preventable disaster caused by negligence”.
