Amazon cargo plane crashes in Texas, 3 dead

CHAMBERS COUNTY, Texas — A large cargo plane crashed Saturday in Texas, killing all three people on board, officials said.

Photos: Amazon cargo plane crashes into shallow bay

Federal Aviation Administration officials said the twin-engine Boeing 767 plane crashed around 12:45 p.m. about 3 miles west of the Chambers County Airport, KHOU reported.

The Chambers County Sheriff's Office said no one survived, WPLG reported.

Witnesses said they heard the plane’s engines surging and that the craft turned sharply before falling into a nosedive, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.

Dave Clark, senior vice president of Worldwide Operations at Amazon, said:

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the flight crew, their families and friends along with the entire team at Atlas Air during this terrible tragedy. We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support.”

Hawthorne told the Houston Chronicle late Saturday afternoon that police had found human remains at the site of the crash.

Investigators have also recovered parts of the plane, he said. “There’s everything from cardboard boxes to women’s clothing and bed sheets,” Hawthorne said.

The largest piece from the Boeing 767 that police have recovered is 50 feet long, Hawthorne told the newspaper.

The sheriff said recovering pieces of the plane and its black box containing flight data records will be difficult in muddy marshland that extends to about 5 feet deep in the area. Air boats are needed to access the area.

The plane, operated by Atlas Air, departed from Miami and was headed to George Bush International Airport.

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Atlas Air operates 20 cargo planes for Amazon. The Amazon Prime Air branded aircraft was converted from a passenger to cargo plane in 2016, Airways Magazine reported.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

The Associate Press contributed to this report.

Cox Media Group