They fled Cuba to build better lives in America. They collected trash and wiped down seats on airplanes at the Miami airport to support their families both in Florida and on their native island.
Then came an unexpected peril: An Amazon cargo jet crashed into their van, killing five and injuring two others.
One of the victims who died, Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47, had worked to save for a trip to Cuba in December to visit his teenage daughter for the first time since leaving the country eight years ago. He wanted to celebrate her quince, or her 15th birthday.
“It’s so senseless,” his brother, Yusdany Pol Quevedo, said on Tuesday night.
Mr. Reyes Quevedo was one of five workers with Professional Ocean Service Corporation who were killed when the cargo aircraft, a Boeing 767-300 operated for Amazon by 21 Air, crash landed on Sunday on its way back from San Juan, P.R. Two others in the van were injured, and the driver of an S.U.V., which the plane also hit, was also hurt.
The flight overshot the runway at Miami International Airport upon landing and skidded across a grass field, plowed through a perimeter fence and across a public road, and also hit the S.U.V. before stopping near a parking lot.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the crash, said in a news conference on Tuesday that they would begin interviewing the airplane’s crew on Wednesday morning. Experts were also reviewing flight recordings from the plane’s black boxes.
“This is certainly very tragic,” said Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the N.T.S.B. “You would not think riding in a van to clean an airplane that this would happen. No one would think that.”
On Tuesday, the authorities identified the victims as Mr. Reyes Quevedo; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; Rolando Alemán León, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; and Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, 53.
Those who were injured remained in the hospital, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz of Miami-Dade County said at a news conference on Tuesday. They were identified as Ridoel Averhoff Díaz, 32; Eugenio Corredor, 79; and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36.
Janette Suárez, the president of Professional Ocean Service, where the men who died worked, said their labor had been “unseen and underappreciated.” She added: “When you sit in the plane, you don’t realize the work they do. They have lives. They are people — fathers, grandfathers, uncles.”
The crash snarled travel for thousands of passengers over Labor Day weekend. On Tuesday, investigators pored over the scene of the collision, and the aircraft, with “Prime Air” printed on its fuselage, was still where it landed two days ago. The road, normally used by workers at nearby logistics and freight companies, was also still closed.
Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said on Tuesday that the company was cooperating with the N.T.S.B. and that its leaders were meeting with local officials and emergency medical workers.
“Our deepest sympathies remain with the families, loved ones and all those affected by this devastating tragedy,” Ms. Nantel said in a statement.
The pilots of the plane, Jaime Felipe Silva Molina, 37, and Joseph Carroll, 55, suffered minor injuries and were released from the hospital, the police said. Mr. Molina has been with 21 Air since 2025, according to his LinkedIn profile.
On Tuesday, portraits of the victims started to emerge — many of them familiar to other Cuban immigrants in Miami.
Before Mr. Reyes Quevedo moved to Miami after arriving at the southern border in 2019, he lived in Guanabacoa, Cuba, outside Havana and worked caring for horses, according to his brother and a childhood friend. He also supported his 69-year-old mother in Cuba, who was in the hospital for high blood pressure, and would send her care packages, his brother said. The family suffered another tragedy less than a year ago when another brother died at age 49.
“She’s devastated,” Mr. Pol Quevedo said of their mother.
Mr. León, who was also Cuban, used to work at a hotel but switched to the better-paying job of cleaning planes, said his former landlord, Blanca Llauro. He lived alone for years in a garage converted into an apartment in northern Miami-Dade County, she said.
He recently moved out and planned to move to a home that he and his girlfriend had bought in the Tampa Bay area, said Ms. Llauro, 81.
Mr. Pineda came to the United States from Cuba in May 2001 and had two children, his former wife, Maria Pineda, said in a text message. He worked tirelessly to provide for his family, she said.
“He was always happy and always laughing,” she said.
Andrea Zarate contributed reporting from Miami. Georgia Gee contributed research.
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