They had finished an eight-hour shift cleaning airplanes at Miami International Airport.

The workday was over.

Seven employees of Professional Ocean Service Corp. climbed into a van and began heading away from their final job of the day.

Then an Amazon Prime Air cargo jet came off the runway.

Within seconds, the massive Boeing 767 slammed into their vehicle.

Five of the workers were killed.

Two others were critically injured.

The victims have now been identified as Rolando Aleman Leon, 55; Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo, 53; Julio C. Pineda, 75; Carlos Acosta Fajardo, 53; and Javierkys Reyes Quevedo, 47.

As federal investigators work to determine why Prime Air Flight 7598 overran a Miami International Airport runway on Sept. 6, new details are shifting attention away from the burning wreckage and toward the people whose lives ended in a place where they had spent years doing largely invisible work.

They cleaned airplanes.

And on Sunday afternoon, they were simply trying to go home.

The Plane Came Off the Runway and Kept Going

Prime Air Flight 7598, operated for Amazon by cargo airline 21 Air, was arriving in Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The aircraft was a 32-year-old Boeing 767-300 freighter.

Shortly before 2 p.m., it overran Runway 30, continued roughly 1,300 feet beyond the end of the runway, and struck vehicles near and outside the airport perimeter.

One of those vehicles was the van carrying the cleaning crew.

The plane also struck a Toyota Corolla driven by 79-year-old Eugenio Corredor, who remained in critical condition as of the latest CBS Miami update. The two surviving cleaning workers, Ridoel Averhoff Diaz, 32, and Roosevelt Sebastian Perdomo Torres, 36, were also hospitalized in critical condition.

The aircraft caught fire after the crash.

Its two pilots survived.

More than 200 emergency personnel and over 60 rescue units responded as crews confronted flames, wreckage and leaking fuel.

But for the five workers inside the van, there was no chance to escape.

One Victim’s Wife Realized Something Was Wrong When He Never Came Home

Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo had immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 2011.

For the next 14 years, according to an attorney representing his family, he worked multiple jobs to support the people he loved.

On Sept. 6, he had started work at 6 a.m.

His shift was scheduled to finish at 3 p.m.

Rodríguez Naranjo was driving the crew van when the plane struck it as the workers were leaving their final assignment.

His wife, Yaraisi Santiso Morejon, expected him home.

When he did not arrive, she began sending text messages.

There was no response.

Her messages were not being read.

Then she found a news report about the crash at Miami International Airport.

Rodríguez Naranjo, who also leaves behind a 22-year-old son, was among the five workers killed.

His widow has since filed a wrongful-death lawsuit naming Amazon, 21 Air and the two pilots as defendants. The lawsuit contains allegations that have not yet been resolved in court.

Julio Pineda Was Known as “The Magician”

Another victim, 75-year-old Julio C. Pineda, had also come to the United States from Cuba.

To his family, however, his identity extended far beyond his job.

Pineda was known as “el mago” — “the magician.”

He earned the nickname because he loved performing magic tricks for his children and grandchildren.

Neighbors in his Hialeah apartment building described a man who routinely kept his door open, talked with people in the hallways and brought neighbors fruit, cookies and food.

One neighbor remembered him simply as someone who was “happy all the time.”

Now those hallways are quieter.

His sons have retained attorneys as they seek more information about why the plane left the runway and whether the crash could have been prevented.

Families Remember Husbands, Fathers and Friends

Carlos Acosta Fajardo’s family described him as a loving husband, devoted son, friend and valued coworker.

His relatives have asked for privacy while they grieve, while attorneys representing the family say they have begun their own investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash.

The family of Javierkys Reyes Quevedo similarly said his sudden death left relatives, friends and coworkers heartbroken.

Rolando Aleman Leon was remembered by friends and neighbors as generous and caring.

A woman who had been both his friend and landlord for five years told CBS Miami that his hat and watch were still sitting beside his bed after his death.

He leaves behind a son.

These details are reshaping the way the tragedy is being understood.

The five people who died were not passengers aboard the aircraft.

They were people working on the ground beneath it.

Investigators Are Now Focused on the Final Moments of the Landing

The National Transportation Safety Board has recovered the Boeing 767’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

Early information has raised serious questions about the aircraft’s approach.

According to the NTSB, one pilot repeatedly expressed concern that the airplane was traveling too fast during the landing sequence.

Cockpit warnings also sounded during the approach.

Investigators say the aircraft touched down late and at high speed. At one point after touchdown, the crew appeared to initiate a go-around — a procedure in which pilots abandon a landing and climb away to try again.

But that attempt was quickly discontinued.

Investigators also said the aircraft’s speed brakes and thrust reversers were not deployed during critical portions of the landing sequence.

The NTSB has not yet determined the probable cause.

Weather, aircraft performance, pilot decision-making, runway conditions and other factors remain under investigation.

Amazon and 21 Air have said they are cooperating with authorities.

Their Jobs Were Essential — and Often Invisible

Professional Ocean Service Corp., which employed the seven workers in the van, has cleaned aircraft at Miami International Airport for at least 15 years.

Its employees handle work most travelers rarely see.

They remove trash, disinfect bathrooms and cabin surfaces, clean carpets and sometimes work on aircraft exteriors.

Crews operate under tight turnaround schedules because airplanes need to be cleaned between flights without delaying the next departure.

Experts described the job as physically demanding and potentially hazardous.

Workers move around enormous aircraft, ground vehicles, jet fuel, hydraulic fluids and other equipment while facing pressure to complete each assignment quickly.

Professional Ocean Service Corp. said after the crash that its employees were more than coworkers.

They were family.

That statement carries particular weight now.

Seven members of one cleaning crew climbed into a van after finishing work Sunday.

Only two survived.

They Were Minutes From the End of Their Workday

Much of the investigation will inevitably focus on the airplane.

How fast was it traveling?

Why did the pilots continue the approach?

Why was the attempted go-around abandoned?

Could anything have stopped the aircraft before it reached the van?

Those questions matter, and the NTSB investigation may take many months to answer them fully.

But the families of the dead are living with a much simpler timeline.

Their loved ones had already done their jobs.

Rodríguez Naranjo had worked from early that morning.

Pineda had completed another shift at 75 years old.

The crew was leaving its final assignment together.

One wife was expecting her husband to walk back through the door.

Instead, a cargo plane traveled beyond the runway and collided with the van carrying him and his coworkers.

Five names now sit behind the death toll:

Rolando Aleman Leon.

Yoel Rodríguez Naranjo.

Julio C. Pineda.

Carlos Acosta Fajardo.

Javierkys Reyes Quevedo.

They were not aboard Flight 7598.

They were simply beneath its path — at the end of another ordinary workday — when everything changed.