Five others were injured<\/a>, including the plane\u2019s two pilots, two members of the cleaning crew and a man in an SUV, officials said.<\/p>\nThe other victims who died were identified as Rolando Alem\u00e1n Le\u00f3n, 55; Yoel Rodr\u00edguez Naranjo, 53; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff\u2019s Office. They all came from Cuba in search of better lives, attorneys for their families said.<\/p>\n
The men, who performed the grueling, fast-paced and often perilous work of an airplane cleaning crew, were wrapping up an 8-hour shift on Labor Day weekend. Their toil \u2013 crucial to keeping air traffic moving \u2013 is little noticed and includes wiping down seats, collecting and removing hazardous waste and always keeping an eye out for moving planes and ground vehicles. They also wash airplane exteriors using lifts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey worked under the sun, in the extreme heat, all day,\u201d said Sigas, who had known Pineda for 15 years. \u201cHe never complained. He was always smiling and making jokes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The death of Pineda and his four coworkers \u2013 who considered themselves family \u2013 has led to widespread grief and mourning in South Florida, where friends and neighbors remember them as hardworking and generous providers.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people don\u2019t appreciate how hard and dangerous those cleaning jobs are,\u201d Sigas said.<\/p>\n
The tragedy has also shone a light on the unseen and demanding labor performed every day by airport support and contract crews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a god-awful job,\u201d Soma Priddle, an aviation attorney and former commercial airline captain, said of the cleaning crews. \u201cIt\u2019s been that way forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
They took pride in grueling work<\/p>\n
The five victims knew the work was exhausting and dangerous but took pride in doing it, friends and neighbors said.<\/p>\n
They worked for a contractor, Professional Ocean Service Corp., which said it was \u201cheartbroken by this unimaginable tragedy\u201d and that its employees were like family.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,\u201d the company said in statement. \u201cWe grieve with those who lost a loved one and pray for the healing and recovery of those who were injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
During an otherwise slow week for him, Pineda picked up extra hours the day he died, according to Sigas and another neighbor.<\/p>\n
Mark Lopez-Trigo, an attorney with a firm that has been hired by Pineda\u2019s two sons, said he was a part-time employee who returned to work after retiring from another job.<\/p>\n
Coworkers at Professional Ocean Service Corp. were devastated by the loss of the five men, according to Lopez-Trigo. Pineda was beloved by many of his coworkers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though he wasn\u2019t there full-time, he was always like a light whenever he would come in \u2013 enjoyable to work with, always brought good energy and was always willing to go the extra mile for work,\u201d Lopez-Trigo told CNN.<\/p>\n
Pineda, who was born in Cuba, had agreed to visit Sigas after work Sunday to help move some furniture. That afternoon, Sigas said, he called his friend several times to see if they would get together. He got no answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI called him until late at night,\u201d Sigas said. \u201cAnd I told my wife, \u2018I don\u2019t like this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, Sigas turned on the television news and learned his friend was gone. As the news spread, other neighbors recalled Pineda sharing food and snacks with them. One friend said she\u2019ll miss the echo of his thunderous laugh in the building\u2019s corridors.<\/p>\n
On the door of Pineda\u2019s apartment, friends this week left a note, handwritten in Spanish, with a heart over his nickname: \u201cMago, we will miss you. Your neighbors, R.I.P.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to say he would be around forever,\u201d said Ana Calatayu, who works at a supermarket below where Pineda lived.<\/p>\n
Emilio Herrera, another neighbor, recalled seeing Pineda on his way to work Sunday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how much I cared for him,\u201d said Herrera, who came close to tears as he spoke of his friend. \u201cHe was the kind of person who healed others. I never saw him upset. I never saw him angry. He was always so helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pineda\u2019s family will hold a wake for him in Miami on Sunday. \u201cYour life was an example of love, humility and generosity,\u201d the invitation reads. \u201cYou were a great father, a marvelous grandfather and a good person.\u201d<\/p>\n
The men had ties to Cuba<\/p>\n
Alem\u00e1n Le\u00f3n, another cleaning crew member who died, was fondly remembered by Blanca Llauro Esquivel, who rented out a small room in northern Miami-Dade County to him until about two months ago. He told her he was buying a home with his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
Alem\u00e1n Le\u00f3n, nicknamed \u201cRoli,\u201d has a son in the Miami area, she said. Other relatives live in Cuba. He had previously worked as a hotel janitor, she said. Sometimes, after work, he would stop by with food for her.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a good person. That\u2019s how I will always remember him,\u201d said Llauro Esquivel, adding she has been depressed since learning of Alem\u00e1n Le\u00f3n\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Reyes Quevedo is survived by a daughter who lives in Cuba, according to Jorge Gutierrez Jr., an attorney retained by Quevedo\u2019s brother and Acosta Farjardo\u2019s partner.<\/p>\n
The victims leave behind \u201ca legacy of love and support and caring that cannot be replaced,\u201d Gutierrez said.<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez Naranjo\u2019s widow, Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the plane\u2019s pilots, Amazon, Inc. and 21 Air LLC, said her attorneys from Morgan & Morgan. CNN has reached out to 21 Air for comment about the lawsuit.<\/p>\n
An Amazon spokesperson said the company is committed to supporting families and the broader community impacted by the crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur deepest sympathies remain with the families, loved ones, and all those affected by this devastating tragedy,\u201d Kelly Nantel, a spokesperson for Amazon, said in a statement to CNN. \u201cThe NTSB is on the ground at Miami International Airport conducting their investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll fully cooperate with them and support any other investigating authorities, and we\u2019ll also continue to coordinate with 21 Air, which operated the flight,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cAmazon leaders are also meeting with local officials, first responders, and others in the community to offer our support.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodr\u00edguez Naranjo arrived from Cuba in 2011. He was driving the Ford van on an airport road after the crew\u2019s last job, according to attorneys.<\/p>\n
He \u201cdied instantly at the scene as a result of the impact,\u201d attorney Jorge Garcia told reporters. Santiso Morejon learned about her husband\u2019s death after wondering why he didn\u2019t return home from work, seeing news about the crash and speaking to investigators. She texted him, but the messages went unread.<\/p>\n
Another cleaning crew member, Acosta Fajardo, is survived by his husband and his parents in Cuba, according to Gutierrez.<\/p>\n
Nelson Fernandez described his husband as a \u201cspecial being, a special soul that comes once in a lifetime.\u201d His partner was also \u201ca good friend, a good son,\u201d as well as a \u201cgood companion at work\u201d and \u201ca good spouse\u201d who supported family back in Cuba, he said.<\/p>\n
Fernandez told CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper Friday evening that Acosta Fajardo was also \u201ca very happy person\u201d who would play music and dance in their yard before mowing the lawn. Acosta Fajardo would have celebrated his 54th birthday on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of celebrating his birthday, I\u2019m mourning him,\u201d Fernandez lamented. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 killed by Amazon cargo plane remembered as generous crew who took pride in their dangerous work MIAMI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-398137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Default](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789244651_979_author_avatar.png\"){kind=avatar}
MIAMI \u2014<\/p>\n