Authorities say at least 11 people died and others are missing.<\/p>\n
Three people were aboard when the plane crashed as it took off for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville\u2019s Muhammad Ali International Airport. Video showed flames on the plane\u2019s left wing and a trail of smoke.<\/p>\n
Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, spoke to reporters today.<\/p>\n
Earlier today, first responders searched for more crash victims at the company\u2019s global aviation hub in Kentucky. The subsequent inferno consumed the enormous aircraft and spread to nearby businesses, authorities said.<\/p>\n
“Most of the things are gone, including some of the vehicles, the semis and the plane,\u201d said Mark Little, chief of the Okolona Fire District in Louisville.<\/p>\n
The plane with three people aboard crashed about 5.15pm Tuesday (local time) as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Video showed flames on the plane\u2019s left wing and a trail of smoke.<\/p>\n
The crash had a ripple effect, striking and causing smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting an auto salvage yard, Grade A Auto Parts, though it could have been worse, Gov. Andy Beshear said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, a local restaurant that is right there … was missed and now is helping the search and rescue,\u201d Beshear said. \u201cAnother blessing is this plane could have potentially hit the major Ford factory or the convention center, those are all close by, and did not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people who heard the boom, saw the smoke and smelled burning fuel were still stunned a day later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know if we were getting attacked. I didn\u2019t know what was going on,\u201d said Summer Dickerson, who works nearby.<\/p>\n
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)<\/p>\n
The number of victims is unclear<\/p>\n
The National Transportation Safety Board was at the scene with investigators. Beshear again predicted the death toll would grow, noting that 16 families had gathered at a reunification centre for news of loved ones.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t know how many victims we’re actually looking for,\u201d Little said. \u201cThat’s one of the issues, and the debris zone is so large. Some of that debris is going to have to be moved and searched underneath. It will take us quite awhile.\u201d<\/p>\n
University of Louisville Hospital said two people were in critical condition in the burn unit Wednesday and that 13 others had been treated and discharged. Five people were treated at other hospitals.<\/p>\n
Police blocked off a busy road about a quarter-mile from the crash site. UPS workers could be seen entering and exiting the UPS Worldport building, and at least two company flights were seen taking off.<\/p>\n
The airport is 11.2 kilometres from downtown Louisville, close to the Indiana state line, residential areas, a water park and museums. People in the immediate area were told not to drink tap water.<\/p>\n
Beshear said he didn’t know the status of the three crew members aboard the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 made in 1991. It wasn’t clear if they were being counted among the dead.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/the-atc-tower-is-seen-while-smoke-rises-from-the-crash-site-5BRUEBJPLZD2JCFVI3TINCZPQI.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The ATC tower is seen while smoke rises from the crash site of UPS Flight 2796 near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u2018We all know somebody who works at UPS\u2019<\/p>\n
UPS said it was \u201cterribly saddened\u201d. The Louisville package handling facility is the company’s largest. The hub employs thousands of workers, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know somebody who works at UPS,\u201d Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re all texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everyone is safe. Sadly, some of those texts are probably going to go unanswered.\u201d<\/p>\n
The governor said The Team Kentucky Emergency Relief Fund, typically used to help people in natural disasters, is accepting donations to help with funeral expenses and other hardships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Kentucky, we grieve together and we support one another,\u201d Beshear said.<\/p>\n
Hoping for information about missing loved ones<\/p>\n
Eric Richardson stood outside a police training academy, where people gathered waiting for word of their missing loved ones Tuesday night (local time). He said his girlfriend, who had been at a metal recycling business near the explosion, wasn\u2019t answering her phone. Her phone\u2019s live location said she was still there.<\/p>\n
Bobby Whelan, Richardson\u2019s friend, had been in front of her in line, but had left minutes before the explosion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t even want to think about anything but the best,\u201d Whelan said. \u201cAll our friends were there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tom Brooks Jr., who runs a metal recycling business down the street, said the crash \u201cjust rocked the whole place\u201d.<\/p>\n
Destyn Mitchell was working as a host at an Outback restaurant close to the airport when she heard a loud boom.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who just sat down to eat got up and left in under 30 minutes and packed up their food because they wanted to hurry up and get home,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
What happened to the plane?<\/p>\n
Based on videos of the crash, aviation attorney Pablo Rojas said the aircraft appeared to be struggling to gain altitude as a fire blazed on its left side around one of its engines.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team of investigators.<\/p>\n
Flight records show the plane was on the ground in San Antonio from September 3 to October 18. Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said it\u2019s too early to know whether the problem was in the engine, the structure that holds the engine, or something else.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis airplane apparently did undergo heavy maintenance within the past month, and investigators will need to comb through the maintenance records to see exactly what was done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The airport resumed operations Wednesday morning (local time), with at least one runway open. A public school district in Louisville cancelled classes for the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A UPS cargo plane\u2019s left wing caught fire and its engine fell off just before it crashed and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,64,40,38,41,39,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-120423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-north-america","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-transport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}