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A plane flying freight for
Amazon.com
Inc.
AMZN 0.75%
He crashed in Texas on Saturday with three people on board, leaving a large debris field in a bay near Houston, authorities said.
The plane, a
Boeing
Co.
BA 1.55%
767-300 cargo aircraft operated by
Atlas Air Global Interests
Inc.
AAWW -0.86%
flew from Miami to Houston when it crashed in Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas at approximately 12:45 pm Central time, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA announced that it lost radar and radio contact with Atlas Air's Atlas 3591 flight, approximately 30 km southeast of Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Brian Hawthorne, Sheriff of Chambers County, Texas, said after the accident that many items, including women's clothing, bed sheets, cardboard boxes and fiberglass, were stolen.
The largest intact section of the plane was about 50 feet long, Hawthorne said at a news conference. "It sounds like total devastation," said the sheriff. "Knowing what I saw, I do not believe anyone can survive it."
The office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Houston, which is participating in the investigation, said that human remains had been found and that there were no signs of survivors.
Witnesses reported that the plane crashed first in a swampy area of the bay, said Sheriff Hawthorne. He added that the fog had recently risen in the area, but the conditions at the accident site were difficult, the depth of the water varying from 5 feet to zero, with a mud deep.
The chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Robert Sumwalt, told reporters that the plane was going down normally to about 6,300 feet. He then needed what he called a "very, very fast" dive. The NTSB was sending a team of investigators to the crash site on Saturday night.
In a statement, Atlas Air said that the three air passengers and their families "are our top priority right now," adding that he was cooperating fully with the FAA and the NTSB.
Atlas Air, a New York-based company, operates a fleet of 112 aircraft, including 20 Boeing 767 freighters, on behalf of Amazon Air, formerly Prime Air. He also flies planes for other customers, including DHL Express, the Chinese SF Express and the US Army.
Air Transport Services Group Inc., another cargo operator, operates another 20 Boeing aircraft for Amazon, and more are expected to join the aircraft later this year.
Amazon outsources flights between its US distribution centers, as well as ground handling and maintenance services.
Dave Clark, Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Amazon, presented the company's thoughts and prayers to the friends and families of the crew. "We appreciate first responders who have worked urgently to provide support," he added.
The e-commerce giant launched its airline business in 2015, building on the rapid growth of online purchases of goods previously shipped by road or rail.
The last major accident of a cargo plane in the United States occurred in August 2013, when an Airbus A300 jet operated by
United Parcel Service
Inc.
crashed shortly before the runway approaching Birmingham Airport, Alabama, killing the pilot and co-pilot.
-Laura Stevens contributed to this article.
Write to Andrew Tangel at [email protected], Doug Cameron at [email protected] and Alison Sider at [email protected]
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