MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, FLA. (WSVN) - The widow and family of two of the five men killed in the cargo plane crash near Miami International Airport are taking legal action in the aftermath of the Labor Day weekend tragedy.
Attorneys with Morgan & Morgan spoke Wednesday morning on behalf of Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, the widow of 53-year-old Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, as they filed a lawsuit against Amazon, Amazon Air Cargo, 21 Air LLC and the two pilots involved in Sunday afternoon’s wreck.
“We do see this as something that was preventable, didn’t have to happen this way,” said attorney Jorge Garcia. “Yoel Rodriguez leaves behind his wife, Yaraisi, and his son, who’s 22 years old, Ronaldo, and we’re really here on their behalf.”
The complaint alleges that failures like possible pilot error, inadequate training and the old age of the aircraft led to her husband’s preventable death.
“It appears that the runway was grossly overshot, a very difficult landing was attempted, go around procedures were not followed,” said attorney Mike Morgan. “We believe that this tragedy stems from a systematic chain of events going all the way up, from the pilots to the owners of the airplane to the leasers of the airplane to the people that engaged the leasers of the airplane.”
Jorge P. Gutierrez Jr., an attorney representing the family of 53-year-old Carlos Acosta Fajardo, who was also killed in the crash, told 7News they would also be filing a lawsuit in what he called the family’s “sudden and unimaginable loss,” promising to conduct a thorough and independent investigation.
“Our job is to find out what happened and represent the families and seek justice for them down the road,” said Gutierrez.
Attorneys for both parties said it’s critical for each victims’ family to know what went wrong and demand accountability for the alleged failures that caused the catastrophic events from Sunday.
“Why the plane skidded off the runway, who was at the controls, pilot, co-pilot, how it could’ve been prevented, we got to look into maintenance issues, I mean, there’s a long list of issues that we need to look into,” said Gutierrez.
“How were the pilots put in that position? Why were they put in that position, what were they trained to do, what were they not trained to do? The lack of training and the lack of oversight can be just as bad as the actual act itself,” said Morgan.
Morejon’s husband was driving a white Econoline van with six other passengers, including Fajardo, on airport property when the cargo plane overshot the runway and struck them.
The group of men were employees for Professional Ocean Service Corps, an aircraft cleaning company.
The suits came just a day after the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office released the names of the vitcims who were killed in the crash.
“Our prayers remain with the families of the five individuals who lost their lives,” said Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz.
As for the two passengers in the van who survived, one is stable while the other remains in critical condition.
The plane also smashed into a Toyota Corolla Cross. The driver of that vehicle, 79-year-old Eugenio Corredor, remains in critical condition.
“We continue to keep the victims of this tragedy in our thoughts and in our prayers,” said Cordero-Stutz.
Authorities identified the two pilots as 55-year-old Joseph Carrol And 37-year-old Jaime Molina, who were both named in the lawsuit.
The pair walked away with minor injuries and have already been released from the hospital.
The attorneys told 7News that as the investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board moves forward, they can amend the lawsuit as new information comes to light.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.