Cleaning company ‘heartbroken,’ neighbors in disbelief after 5 workers killed in cargo plane crash

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Representatives from a South Florida cleaning company mourned the loss of five employees killed after a cargo plane careened off the runway at Miami International Airport and struck their work van as it drove on an airport service road over the weekend.The five workers killed were identified on Tuesday by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office as Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47; and Yoel Rodriguez Naranjo, 53.They were employed by Professional Ocean Service Corp., a company that services aircraft at the airport. It’s based just outside of MIA.Two workers survived when the Boeing 767, operated by cargo carrier 21 Air on behalf of Amazon, overshot the runway on Sunday afternoon and slammed into their Ford Econoline van.Two workers inside survived the crash; so too did an SUV driver also hit as the plane went past the airport perimeter fence and onto Northwest 67th Avenue.The company released a statement about the incident on Tuesday.“Our Professional Ocean Service Corp. family is heartbroken by this unimaginable tragedy,” it read in part. “Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved.”The company asked the public to keep the employees’ families “in their thoughts and prayers and to respect their privacy during this incredibly difficult time.”Local 10 News also spoke to neighbors of two of the men on Tuesday.Onel Gomez Manzo says he last saw Pineda, his friend and neighbor, on Saturday. He’s lived two doors down from him for the last two years.“Sometimes he would bring fruit for my son and things like that,” Gomez Manzo said in Spanish.He added that the crash “seemed like a lie” – he couldn’t believe it. Blanca Llaro, Aleman Leon’s former landlord told Local 10 News that he moved out about two weeks ago.He was “very respectful, very serious,” Llaro told Local 10 News in Spanish.Interactive graphic

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