The five people killed when an Amazon cargo jet ran off the runway at Miami International Airport were all inside a van used to shuttle cleaning crews to planes to clean them, US authorities have said.

The jet overran the runway while landing on Sunday.

It slammed into the van which was on airport property, careened through a fence, and then smashed into a vehicle on a city street.

Five other people were injured.

The pilot and co-pilot have been released from hospital, Miami-Dade county sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said on Tuesday.

Two people remained in a critical condition and a third was in stable condition.

Cordero-Stutz said the deceased ranged in age from 47 to 75.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the crash. One focus will be on the lack of a particular system to slow and stop speeding jets. Miami is not one of the 120 airports in the US with lightweight, crushable material at the end of runways that the Federal Aviation Administration says has saved about 500 lives.

Experts said even without a runway excursion system, Miami’s airport appears to be compliant with federal rules because it has a 1,000ft (305m) safety buffer at the end of its runways.

NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said on Monday her agency’s goal was to prevent tragedies, but runway excursions continued to happen even after the board had suggested installing the systems in the past.

“Our recommendations must be implemented or we’re going to be here again,” she said at a news conference.

Investigators recovered the flight data recorder and the information is being reviewed. Interviews with the pilot, co-pilot, air traffic controllers and others are being scheduled, Homendy said.

Amazon said in a statement that it is co-operating with the investigation and the company’s deepest sympathies go to the people killed and injured, and their families.

The five people killed were all in a van owned by Professional Ocean Service Corp, a company that cleans aircraft.

The company said it would not comment on the crash out of respect for the families who had lost loved ones.

“Our employees are far more than the people who work beside us each day, they are family, and they are deeply loved. Our hearts and prayers are with every employee and every family whose lives have been forever changed,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Amazon jet was landing after a two-hour flight from Puerto Rico as storms gathered around the Miami airport.

The NTSB said the plane barrelled roughly 1,300ft (396m) past the end of the runway.

The flight had been operated by 21 Air, a cargo carrier based in North Carolina.

Two of the four runways at the Miami airport remained closed on Tuesday, and Homendy said they will not be reopened until NTSB investigators gather all the information they need from the crash scene.

More than 225 flights were cancelled on Sunday and Monday, and hundreds more were delayed, officials said. – AP