An Amazon Prime cargo plane originating from Miami crashed into a bay east of Houston early Saturday afternoon, killing three people on board, local officials said.
"Knowing what I saw I don't believe anyone could have survived," Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said, describing floating debris. "It looks like total devastation from the aircraft."
The plane, a twin-engine Boeing 767 cargo jetliner operated by Atlas Air, crashed into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, shortly before 12:45 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Atlas Air Flight 3591, flying from Miami to Houston, lost radar and radio contact about 30 miles southeast of Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Purchase, N.Y.-based Atlas Air Worldwide, which has an office in Miami, said in a statement that the company is fully cooperating with investigators and confirmed there were three people on the plane when it went down.
"Those people and their family members are our top priority at this time," the company said.
According to the website Flight Aware, the plane left Miami at 11:33 a.m. and its last reported altitude was about 3,000 feet, when it appeared the aircraft was descending toward Houston.
FAA investigators and the FBI joined first responders at the crash site. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.
