The USDA believes the cows probably died from heat exhaustion after the plane landed and shut its engines down

July 27, 1999
Web posted at: 6:09 p.m. EDT (2209 GMT)

MIAMI (CNN) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is trying to determine how 50 dairy cows aboard a cargo plane bound for Puerto Rico died from heat exhaustion Monday.

There were 89 cows aboard the Emery Air Cargo flight to San Juan when the plane was forced to return to Miami International Airport after experiencing problems with its hydraulic system.

The air charter company handling the cows said workers immediately began offloading the cattle when the plane returned. But a handful of cows collapsed due to the heat, and created a logjam on the plane.

"The rest eventually suffered the same fate .... it was very unfortunate, but it was a combination of a lot of problems," said Jim Farrell of Air Cargo Associates.

The USDA suspects the cows died of heat exhaustion after the DC-8 jet landed and shut its engines down, which in turn, shut off the plane's air conditioning.

Because the plane's return to Miami was unscheduled, it took longer than expected to bring in and install portable air conditioners, Farrell said.

Airport workers had to pump fresh air into the airplane as others offloaded the dead cows on forklifts and laid them on the tarmac.

The 39 cows that survived are being held at the USDA quarantine facility in Miami.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.