The three people aboard the Amazon Prime Air cargo plane that crashed outside Houston have been confirmed dead, the plane's operator said Sunday. The Boeing 767 operated by Atlas Air was a scheduled cargo flight for Amazon from Miami to Houston on Saturday when it nosedived into a swampy area about 30 miles from George Bush Intercontinental Airport. "It is with great sadness that Atlas Air Worldwide has confirmed that the three people on board ... did not survive the accident," the company said in a Sunday afternoon statement. Atlas CEO Bill Flynn, who is at the crash site with other company representatives and federal, state and local investigators, said Atlas is setting up assistance programs for the family members of the those killed in the crash. Authorities have not yet released their names. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected,” Flynn said in a statement. "This is a sad time for all of us. Our team continues to work closely with the NTSB, the FAA and local authorities on the ground in Houston. We would like to commend the efforts of all of the first responders. We sincerely appreciate their efforts and support in the investigation." Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne on Saturday asked for anyone with video or pictures of the crash to submit them to investigators. Witnesses said they heard the plane’s engines surging and watched the craft turn sharply before falling into a nosedive, Hawthorne said. Federal investigators are helping local authorities search the wreckage for the plane's flight recorders, which could help explain the crash. Investigators say the crash left debris strewn across a wide area of Trinity Bay. AccuWeather meteorologists suggested weather could be to blame: "There were a few showers with gusty winds in the vicinity of Houston at the time of the crash. While an investigation needs to take place, these were around the area and could have been a factor in the crash," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert said. Investigators say they're using a mix of boats and airboats to search the swampy, marshy area. People who worked nearby were among the first to reach the wreckage, KHOU-TV reported. “The whole reason for us going out there was to see if we could save anybody," boat mechanic Jason Campbell told the TV station. “There’s not much of a plane left to tell that it was actually an airplane. There’s packages, clothes, shoes, this stuff floating everywhere.”<doc-sep>A wide body aircraft emblazoned with Amazon's Prime logo lands at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. December 20, 2016. Picture taken December 20, 2016. To match Insight AMAZON.COM-SHIPPING/ REUTERS/Mark Makela Federal investigators on Sunday combed through wreckage of a cargo plane flying for Amazon that crashed into a bay outside Houston, killing all three people on board. The Boeing 767-300, flying from Miami by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings for the online shopping giant, was nearing Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday when it nose-dived into a muddy and marshy area of a bay near the city, authorities said. Three people on board were killed in the crash, Atlas Air said. The remains of two people have been found at the site. One of the victims was Captain Sean Archuleta, a pilot for Mesa Air Group. Archuleta was riding in a jump seat on the plane, the regional airline said. Archuleta had recently been hired by United Airlines, but hadn't started working there, United said. "This is a sad day for the entire Mesa Family as we mourn the loss of Captain Sean Archuleta," said Jonathan Ornstein, Mesa's CEO and chairman. "Our thoughts are with Sean's family, the families of the two Atlas Air pilots, and the whole Atlas Air organization. This is a loss for all of aviation." A group of investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board's — known as the "go team" — arrived in Texas Saturday evening to begin the probe. Investigators are scrambling to recover the so-called black boxes that contain cockpit voice recordings and flight data to determine the cause of the crash, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt told a news conference Sunday afternoon. "Obviously, recovering those is critical to this investigation," he said. "It is a painstaking process but it is a high priority for the NTSB." The black boxes send out signals so they can be located, but the thick mud of the area may complicate that effort. "The situation that we may be facing here is that those pingers may be embedded so much into mud that their effectiveness may be reduced," Sumwalt said. Divers may be sent to look for the black boxes or areas of the bay may be dredged. The plane appeared for five seconds in video captured from the Chambers County jail, about a mile and a half away, showing the aircraft in a "steep, nose-down" descent, Sumwalt said, adding that there was no distress call from the plane and it had no declared hazardous materials on board. The plane's crew was informed by air traffic control of light to heavy rain ahead but Sumwalt said it was too soon to know the cause of the crash. "Our entire purpose of being here is finding out what happened so we don't have to go through this again," he said. The investigators will review the employment and training records of the people on board and of the plane's maintenance records. The investigation, which will be led by NTSB, will also include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration, Atlas Air and its pilots' union, as well as Boeing and General Electric, which made the airplane's engines. Amazon is not a part of the investigation, a spokesman for the NTSB said. tweet Atlas Air Flight 3591 was traveling from Miami to Houston when it crashed into Trinity Bay. Video taken at the crash site by local news outlets showed debris in the bay, including a piece of material that appeared to feature a part of Amazon's logo. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthrorne said that law enforcement spotted items including bed sheets, women's clothing and cardboard boxes in the bay. Atlas Air is one of the cargo airlines that Amazon contracted to operate the Amazon-branded fleet, called Amazon Air, along with Air Transport Services Group. Each operates 20 Amazon-branded planes for the air freight service, which was previously called Prime Air. "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," Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations, said in a statement on Saturday. "We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support."<doc-sep>A mural of George Floyd is shown in the intersection of 38th St & Chicago Ave on March 31, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Community members continue preparations during the third day in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with multiple counts of murder in the death of George Floyd. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 01: President Donald Trump's lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House West Wing July 01, 2020 in Washington, DC. Giuliani did an on-camera interview with One America News Network's Chanel Rion before talking to other journalists about Vice President Joe Biden and the news that Russian intelligence may have paid Taliban operatives to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Vigils & tributes to George Floyd one year since his murder ORLANDO, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 28: Former President Donald Trump addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference held in the Hyatt Regency on February 28, 2021 in Orlando, Florida. Begun in 1974, CPAC brings together conservative organizations, activists, and world leaders to discuss issues important to them. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Here's what reported grand jury in Trump case may look like NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 09: People walk past the Trump Tower as the impeachment trial of Donald Trump begins in Washington on February 09, 2021 in New York City. After listening to nearly four hours of legal arguments, the Senate has voted on Tuesday to move ahead with the impeachment trial of former President Trump. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 20: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the conflict in the Middle East from Cross- Hall of the White House on May 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. Israel and Hamas announced that they would agree to a cease-fire, which will take into effect on Friday, following days of fighting that claimed more than 200 lives. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) SAN JOSE, CA - MAY 26: A view of the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light-rail yard where a mass shooting occurred on May 26, 2021 in San Jose, California. A VTA employee opened fire at the yard, with preliminary reports indicating nine people dead including the gunman. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images) A healthcare worker prepares to administer a Pfizer/BioNTEch coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at The Michener Institute, in Toronto, Ontario on December 14, 2020. - Ontario, Canada's most populous province and one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, had 1,940 new cases and 23 deaths on Monday. The province is expected to give its next doses to nursing home workers as a priority, according to media reports. (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO / POOL / AFP) (Photo by CARLOS OSORIO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) 'Never seen levels like this': Union president on airline passenger misconduct Memorial Day weekend will bring rain and cool air for much of the East Aerial image shows swath of debris after a 767 cargo jet crash near Houston, Texas, on February 23, 2019. (CNN) — A cargo jetliner that crashed Saturday in Texas with three people aboard went into shallow water nose first, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said. He said some human remains have been recovered but didn’t specify whether three bodies had been found. Hawthorne said the crash site in Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, is in water just 5 feet deep and is reachable by airboats and other flat-bottom craft. The scene extends over 3 miles, he said. Multiple dive teams from the Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police, and the Baytown Police are at the crash site, he added. The sheriff described seeing the contents of packages and cardboard boxes as he traveled across the water, then seeing parts of the twin-engine Boeing 767. The flight was operated by Atlas Air Inc. “There was nothing intact of the airplane,” he said. “Knowing what I saw, I don’t think anyone could survive it.” He said about six people saw the plane go into the water. Some said it sounded like the engines were “surging,” the sheriff said. “There’s no doubt he was having some kind of problem with the airplane, according to the eyewitnesses,” the sheriff said. “Then it turned and went into a nosedive.” The 767 was in a normal descent as it approached George Bush Intercontinental Airport, then went into a “very, very rapid descent” at 6,300 feet, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters in Washington before his team left for Texas. Atlas Air said three people on the plane “and their family members are our top priority at this time.” The operator said it was cooperating with federal investigators. Atlas Air said it operated the plane on behalf of Amazon. It was traveling from Miami to Houston when it went down about 40 miles southeast of the airport. The president of the Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224, said the three people on the flight were union members. “Our union stands together as a family and in support of our members’ families,” Daniel C. Wells, who is also an Atlas Air captain, said. “Our focus is on our friends and colleagues who were on that plane, and we are doing everything we can to support their families.” Aerial images from CNN affiliate KPRC showed emergency responders on airboats near the site of a significant amount of debris. The plane was located in Jack’s Pocket at the north end of Trinity Bay, the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. According to the FAA website, the plane was built in 1992 and the flight number was 3591. Boeing said it was saddened to hear about the crash. “We are concerned about the safety of the three people reported to be on board the airplane,” it said. “We are prepared to provide technical assistance to the National Transportation Safety Board as it investigates the accident.” CNN’s Rebekah Riess and Thom Patterson contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Josh Verde, a Houston aviation expert, says the key piece of evidence in the Atlas case: the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as the “black boxes”. CHAMBERS COUNTY, Texas — As NTSB investigators continue trying to figure out what caused a 767 Atlas Air cargo plane to crash near Anahuac on Saturday, killing three aboard, one local aviation expert is shedding light on the key clues investigators are looking for. Josh Verde, a Houston aviation expert, says the passenger version of the 767 should be familiar to anyone who’s flown overseas: about double in size of the 737s often used for domestic flights, with double aisles, several backup systems and a very good safety record. “That’s what makes this crash even more disturbing because you just don’t have 767s falling out of the sky,” said Verde, who is not involved with the Atlas Air investigation. “It hasn’t happened.” Verde is currently an attorney but has spent more than two decades flying, including more than six years for a major commercial airline. He says the key piece of evidence in the Atlas case: the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, commonly known as the “black boxes”. “If I were in the shoes of an investigator, the piece of evidence or information that I’d want the most right now is the audio from that cockpit,” said Verde. “I wanna know was there a struggle, was there a loss of control, was there communication between the pilots about just what exactly is going on. Those are very important pieces of this puzzle. Also, the flight data recorder will show us whether or not there was an intentional input to the flight controls of this aircraft right before this crash.” It’s very likely those recorders did survive the crash. They’re waterproof, designed to handle high impact and are usually kept in the tail because it’s often the least damaged part of the plane. The challenge in the Anahuac crash is finding the black box under what could be several feet of mud. The black box is supposed to set off “pings”, but it’s believed to be too deep in the mud for the sound to be heard. “The area of wreckage is not so large that, in my opinion, they couldn’t do things like start to dredge,” said Verde. With or without those boxes, the debris and its condition also tell a story. “For example, was the impact the cause of the breakup, or did the aircraft break up in flight?” said Verde, noting investigators will often attempt to reassemble the aircraft. “What types of forces or stresses were imposed on the metal of the aircraft and what mode did that metal fail?”<doc-sep>
An Amazon-branded Boeing 767 freighter, nicknamed Amazon One, flies over Lake Washington during the Seattle Seafair Air Show on Aug. 5, 2016 in Seattle. A Boeing 767 cargo jet operating for Amazon crashed in a bay outside of Houston with three people on board Saturday afternoon, the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said. Human remains have been found at the scene and there are no signs of survivors, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Atlas Air Flight 3591 was traveling from Miami to Houston when it crashed into Trinity Bay, near Anahuac, Texas. Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said eyewitnesses reported the plane crashed nose-first into the bay. "I feel like it's probably a crash that nobody would be capable of surviving," said Hawthorne said. The plane was operating for Amazon, Atlas Air said Saturday. Atlas Air is one of the cargo airlines that Amazon contracted to operate the Amazon-branded fleet, called Amazon Air, along with Air Transport Services Group. Each operates 20 Amazon-branded planes for the air freight service, which was previously called Prime Air. Video taken at the crash site by local news outlets showed debris in the bay, including a piece of material that appeared to feature a part of Amazon's logo. Hawthrorne said the crash site is in a muddy and marshy area of the bay and that law enforcement spotted items including bed sheets, women's clothing and cardboard boxes in the bay. The flight lost radar and radio contact about 30 miles southeast of its destination, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, said the FAA. "FAA investigators are on their way to the accident site, and the National Transportation Safety Board has been notified," said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford in a statement. "The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation." The NTSB said it was sending a "go team" to the crash site on Saturday evening from Washington D.C. Atlas Air confirmed that three people were on board the aircraft. "Those people and their family members are our top priority at this time," the company said in a statement. "Atlas Air is cooperating fully with the FAA and NTSB. We will update as additional information becomes available." Boeing, which manufactured the plane, said it in a statement that it "is deeply saddened to learn of the accident. "We are concerned about the safety of the three people reported to be on board the airplane," said the statement. Boeing added that it would provide technical assistance to the NTSB's investigation. The Boeing 767 was powered by GE CF6-80C2 engines, one of General Electric's most popular aircraft engines. The company said in a statement that it was aware of the accident and it has a team in place to "provide all the necessary support required." "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," Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations. "We appreciate the first responders who worked urgently to provide support." -CNBC's Phil LeBeau contributed to this report.