At least three people have been killed and 11 injured after a large UPS plane crashed and exploded today while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky.
The state’s governor said those numbers are likely to grow after the crash ignited a massive fire that left a thick plume of black smoke over the area.
The plane crashed about 5.15pm (local time) as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
A shelter-in-place order was issued within eight kilometres of the airport. (Source: Reuters)
“We know that there are injuries. We don’t know yet about fatalities, but we’re asking all Kentuckians to pray for those that have been impacted,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told The Associated Press.
The plane crashed about 5.15pm (local time) as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. (Source: Associated Press)
Mayor Craig Greenberg told WLKY-TV there could be about 1059 kilolitres of fuel on the plane, an “extreme reason for concern in so many different ways”.
UPS’s largest package handling facility is in Louisville. The hub employs thousands of workers, has 300 daily flights and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.
A shelter-in-place order was extended to all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River. The Louisville airport is only a 10-minute drive from the city’s downtown on the river bordering the Indiana state line. There are residential areas, a water park and museums in the area.
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airplane owned by UPS was manufactured in 1991.