Felipe Silva Molina walked among the smoking wreckage of the plane and could barely hold the phone in his hand.
Minutes earlier, Prime Air Flight 7598, a Boeing 767 operated by 21 Air, had run off the runway at Miami International Airport after landing from Puerto Rico. The aircraft plowed into several vehicles and burst into flames. Five people were killed inside a van split apart by the impact, and another five were injured. Silva Molina, 37, and Captain Joseph Carroll, 55, survived with minor injuries.
An airport worker, Abraham Altamar, lent him his cellphone so he could call his wife. “Tell my mom I was in the accident, but that I already got out of the plane, that I’m okay”, he managed to say. He was trembling, with injuries to his forehead and hand. But after calming his family, amid the black smoke and sirens, he let out what was really breaking him: “My career is over”. The NTSB is now investigating whether the plane landed too late to stop in time.