Three people are dead after an Amazon Prime Air cargo plane crashed near Houston on Saturday, in what Amazon is calling a “terrible tragedy.”
The Boeing 767 jet, operated by Atlas Air, was heading into town from Miami when it nosedived and crashed into Trinity Bay at about 12:45 p.m. CT on Saturday. The plane was about 30 miles away from reaching George Bush International Airport.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the flight crew, their families and friends along with the entire team at Atlas Air during this terrible tragedy,” Amazon SVP of operations Dave Clark tweeted on Saturday night. “We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support.”
Authorities have not yet released the identities of the three people aboard the plane, but the Houston Chronicle on Monday reported Capt. Sean Archuleta of Houston, Capt. Ricky Blakely of Indiana and First Officer Conrad Jules Aska of Antigua were being mourned on social media.
Fox 26 in Houston reported two of the bodies have been recovered on Monday morning. The outlet had tweeted a picture of the wreckage in Trinity Bay on Saturday.
Boeing 767 cargo plane with 3 aboard crashes https://t.co/oocRiMY0B2 @FOX26Houston pic.twitter.com/UYVmWR2LIn
— FOX26Houston (@FOX26Houston) February 23, 2019
Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in a Monday press conference that the organization is working to locate the plane’s black boxes, hoping to learn more about why the plane suddenly crashed from about 6,000 feet above the ground.
Atlas chief Bill Flynn was at the crash site with other company officials, working with local and federal investigators on “setting up assistance programs from the family members of those killed in the crash,” according to USA Today.