In a deeply disturbing incident, a UPS cargo plane with three people aboard crashed and exploded early on Wednesday while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky. All on board were dead, while 11 others were injured. According to the Associated Press, the plane crashed about 5.15 pm (US local time) as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport. The plane lifted slightly off the ground before crashing and exploding in a huge fireball. Videos of the plane crash showed flames on the plane’s left wing and a trail of smoke.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told a press briefing that he expected the number of dead and injured was going to rise, with the current toll including only those on the ground that were currently accounted for.Meanwhile, UPS said in a statement that three crew members were on board the aircraft, adding that “we have not confirmed any injuries/casualties." Mayor Craig Greenberg told WLKY-TV that fuel on the plane was an “extreme reason for concern in so many different ways". The cause of the crash was under investigation by the FAA and the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
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, which sits on the river bordering the Indiana state line. There are residential areas, a water park and museums in the area.