Atlas Air flight 5Y3591, a Boeing 767-300 operated for Amazon Prime Air, was destroyed in an accident at Trinity Bay, near Anahuac, Texas, USA. All three crew members were killed.
A twin-engine Boeing 767 crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac early Saturday afternoon, and authorities said they believe all three people on board are dead after human remains were found.
The plane was on its way to George Bush Intercontinental Airport from Miami, Florida, when it crashed, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The aircraft departed Miami International Airport, Florida at 16:33 UTC (11:33 hours local time) on a cargo flight to Houston-George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Texas, USA. The cruising altitude of FL400 was reached after 20 minutes.
Descent towards Houston was commenced at 18:07 UTC. About 18:37 UTC (12:37 local time) the aircraft entered a rapid rate of descent and impacted the water of Trinity Bay, approximately 60 km ESE of the destination airport.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, a civilian called the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office around 12:40 p.m. Saturday to report seeing a plane go down in the water.
The FAA said initial reports indicated the plane was Atlas Air Flight 3591.
According to Atlas Air Inc.’s website, the company transports items from “precious perishables or heavy construction equipment to arranging passenger charters for celebrities or dignitaries.”
The crash happened in an area known as Jack’s Pocket in northern Trinity Bay, according to authorities.
Sky2 aerials showed a trail of debris in the water up to 1 mile long. Authorities said they saw everything from bedsheets to women’s clothing to cardboard boxes to a lot of fiberglass among the debris.
“Who knows what’s under the water that we can’t see, but it looks like total devastation from the aircraft part,” Chambers County Sheriff Brian C. Hawthorne said. “Knowing what I saw, I don’t believe anybody could survive it,”
The FAA said initial reports indicated that there were three people on board.
The sheriff said witnesses told authorities the plane went into a nose dive, then went into the water nose-first.
Hawthorne said witnesses said they heard what sounded like lightning before the plane went down.
“We first started getting 911 reports of eyewitnesses that watched it go nose-first into the bay,” Hawthorne said.
According to DPS, the aircraft broke up on impact in approximately 2 to 4 feet of water. Dive teams are searching for the black box.
“The problem that we’re gonna have, that everybody is gonna have in this recovery process, is that the water is goes from about five feet deep to zero. And that zero feet deep is nothing by mud marsh,” Hawthorne said. “(That area) is best known for its duck hunting, so it’s not gonna be an easy recovery task for us to do.”
