Five members of a crew killed when an Amazon cargo jet smashed into their van were wrapping
up their eight-hour shift cleaning planes at the Miami airport when they were struck, lawyers for one of the victims said on Wednesday.
The deadly crash has drawn attention to a workforce that largely operates out of sight of most travelers, tidying airplane cabins for often low pay while som
etimes working in hot and dangerous conditions. But the job is also critical to keeping the airline industry moving 24 hours a day.
“This is certainly very tragic. You would not think riding in a van to clean an airplane, that this would happen,” National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.
Two other workers in the van were in the hospital days after their Econoline van was crushed by the speeding jet that investigators said appeared to be reconsidering a landing Sunday before running out of runway.
Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53, came to the U.S. from Cuba in 2011 and worked multiple jobs for his family over the past 14 years, said attorney Jorge Garcia, who is a friend of Naranjo’s family and filed a wrongful-death lawsuit on thei
r behalf against Amazon, 21 Air, which operated the plane, and the pilots.
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Naranjo was driving the van and working a 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift for Professional Ocean Service Corp. His wife started frantically texting him when he didn’t arrive home on time. After seeing her texts weren’t being read, she found a news story about the crash, Garcia said.
Naranjo 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 at a news conference.
Julio C. Pineda also came to the U.S. from Cuba. The 75-year-old was known as “El mago” — “The Magician” — because he was always doing magic tricks, his neighbors told NBC News.
He was calm, helpful, and there was always music and fun when his children came over, they said.
“He was someone who was always laughing and telling stories,” Alberto Leandro said. “You’d see him and he’d crack a joke in the elevator.”
Killed along with Naranjo and Pineda were Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.
