MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, a survivor of the cargo plane crash that killed five of his co-workers on Sunday at Miami International Airport, remained in the intensive care unit on Friday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami-Dade County.

Perdomo Torres, 36, was in a white 2012 Ford E-150 Econoline van, owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp., working at MIA, when a Boeing 767-300 cargo jet operating as Prime Air Flight 7598 overran a runway and crashed.

“Mr. Perdomo Torres was thrown into the air. He had the wherewithal to try to land sort of belly down, rather than on his back, thinking always about surviving,” said Attorney Pablo Rojas, who is representing Perdomo Torres and filed a lawsuit on his behalf on Friday in Miami-Dade County civil court.

As federal investigators continued to collect and analyze evidence, Rojas, an aviation expert, said there were “apparent errors” and “security lapses” that resulted in the “preventable” tragedy.

“Flight 7598 did not execute a safe or effective landing. For at least a minute, there were warnings inside the cockpit that the aircraft was approaching the runway too fast, and descending excessively,” Rojas wrote in the 32-page lawsuit.

The five dead identified by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday were Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

Without an Engineered Materials Arresting System, or EMAS, a safety bed to stop the jet, at MIA, the jet also struck a Toyota Corolla Cross LE SUV on Northwest 67th Avenue.

The four others injured were Perdomo Torres’s co-worker, Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, whose condition was critical on Tuesday; Joseph Carroll and Jaime Silva, the pilot and the co-pilot, who suffered minor injuries; and the driver of the Toyota, Eugenio Corredor, 79, whose condition was critical on Tuesday.

Perdomo Torres’s personal injury lawsuit names Amazon, Amazon Services, 21 Air, Avia Acquisition, Avia Investments, Andromeda Leasing II, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Titan Aviation Leasing Limited Americas, and the two pilots.

“A pilot called for flaps to be set to 20 degrees, and the other pilot cautioned they were too fast. The other pilot made additional comments regarding the aircraft’s excessive speed throughout the remainder of the recording. There was not a consistent verbal response to the comments about speed," an NTSB investigator wrote on a report about findings on the jet’s cockpit voice and fight data recorders.

The jet traveled for 1,300 feet “past the paved surface,” according to National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy. It stopped in an empty field with its nose on a parking lot with Tesla Robotaxis.

Carroll, 55, the captain, “received his type rating in the 76,” a mandatory certification for the Boeing 767, in May, and Silva, 37, the first officer, received his type rating in the 76 on April 2, 2025. Silva had 2,655 flight hours as of Aug. 13, and Carol had 7,145 flight hours as of March 31, according to the NTSB.

As the jet, registered as N1997A, remained on the crash site, one of MIA’s four runways was closed on Friday.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz asked travelers on Tuesday to check with airlines for the status of their flights. She also warned drivers that 67th Avenue was closed to the public from 25th to 32nd streets.

Homendy asked witnesses to share photos and videos with the NTSB team via e-mail at witness@ntsb.gov.

Cordero-Stutz asked the victims’ relatives to contact MDSO victims’ advocates at 305-471-1900.

This is a developing story.

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After cargo jet struck van at Miami International Airport, survivor ‘was thrown into the air,’ attorney says

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Jackie Pascale

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