First responders were searching for more victims Wednesday after a UPS cargo plane crashed and exploded in a massive fireball at the company’s global aviation hub in Kentucky, killing at least nine people and injuring 11 others, authorities said.
The plane crashed at approximately 5:15 p.m. Tuesday while departing for Honolulu from the UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear posted online Wednesday morning that 16 families gathered at the reunification center “reported their loved ones missing.”
The airport is located 7 miles (11.2 kilometers) from downtown Louisville, close to the Indiana state line, residential areas, water park, and museums. Emergency officials initially issued a shelter-in-place order within a 5-mile (8-kilometer) radius. By Wednesday morning, that had been reduced to a quarter-mile (400 metre) radius, as officials monitored air quality.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said more than 200 emergency workers responded to the accident Tuesday evening.
“We will continue to use every resource we have for that purpose as well,” he told WLKY-TV Wednesday morning.
A video clip showed flames on the plane’s left wing and a trail of smoke. The plane then rose slightly off the ground before it crashed and burst into flames. A video clip showed parts of the torn roof of the building next to the end of the runway.
Bashir said he did not know the status of the three crew members on board the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 manufactured in 1991. It was not immediately clear whether they had been counted among the dead.
“We all know someone who works at UPS.”
Bashir said he expected the death toll to rise. Eleven people were also injured. Bashir said that two of the injured were in critical condition.
He said: “Everyone who saw the pictures and video knows how violent this incident was.”
The package-handling facility in Louisville is the company’s largest, and UPS announced late Tuesday that package sorting at the center had stopped. He did not say when operations would resume. The center employs thousands of workers, has 300 daily flights and sorts more than 400,000 packages per hour.
“We all know someone who works for UPS,” Louisville Metro Councilwoman Betsy Rohe said. “And they’re all texting their friends and family, trying to make sure everyone’s safe. And unfortunately, some of those texts probably won’t get answered.”
Hoping to get information about missing loved ones
Eric Richardson stood outside the police training academy, where people gathered awaiting word from their missing loved ones Tuesday night. He said he was hoping to get information about his girlfriend, who worked at a metal recycling company near the explosion and was not answering her phone. The live location of her phone indicates she is still there.
Richardson’s friend, Bobby Whelan, was standing in front of her in line, but he left minutes before the explosion. He said he was about a quarter mile down the road when he heard the sound of a bomb exploding.
“We don’t even want to think about anything but the best,” Whelan said. “All our friends were there.”
The governor said the Kentucky Petroleum Recycling Company appears to have been “very directly affected,” as was a nearby auto parts operation.
Tom Brooks Jr., who runs a metal recycling business on the street, said the unbelievable scale of the incident “shook the whole place.”
“This was huge. I mean it literally looked like a war zone,” he said.
Destin Mitchell was working as a hostess at an outback restaurant, about a 15-minute drive from the scene, when she heard a loud bang.
“People who had just sat down to eat got up and left in less than 30 minutes and packed their food because they wanted to hurry and get home,” she said.
What happened to the plane?
Based on videos of the crash, the plane appeared to be struggling to gain altitude with flames on its left side around one of its engines, said Pablo Rojas, an aviation lawyer. Given the fuel the plane was carrying, it was only a matter of time before the fire spread quickly or an explosion occurred.
He added: “In fact, the plane itself is almost like a bomb because of the amount of fuel.”
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a 28-person crew to investigate the crash, Greenberg said.
The airport, which was also closed overnight, resumed operations on Wednesday morning, with at least one runway open. The flights canceled Tuesday were scheduled to depart and arrive first. Some flights that were scheduled to take off from the airport on Wednesday morning were cancelled.
Some stranded passengers spent the night at the airport, and nearby roads remained closed Wednesday morning. The Louisville Public School District has canceled classes and activities for the day.
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