What we know about the UPS plane crash in Louisville
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 11 hours ago
- 3 min read
By FRANCESCA REGALADO
At least nine people were killed when a UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday.
The crash ignited a large fire in a cluster of buildings south of the airport, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky. The airport, which was closed Tuesday night, reopened a runway Wednesday morning. Officials were examining the site of the crash and warned that the death toll could rise.
Here’s what we know about the crash:
The plane crashed as it was taking off.
Three UPS crew members were on the MD-11 plane as it departed for Honolulu around 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. The jet climbed to just 175 feet before swiftly descending and crashing into two businesses about 3 miles south of the airport, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said.
The plane had been loaded with 38,000 gallons of fuel, and one of the businesses it hit was a petroleum recycling facility, Beshear said.
Some storage tanks containing propane and oil at the crash site ruptured, but the fire was almost entirely contained, Brian O’Neill, chief of the Louisville Fire Department, said Tuesday.
There was no hazardous cargo on the plane, Mayor Craig Greenberg of Louisville said Tuesday night. Beshear said Wednesday that he was declaring a state of emergency to allow the state to quickly deploy resources to the crash scene.
A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in Louisville on Wednesday, beginning the process of determining what caused the crash.
At least nine people were killed.
Authorities said that nine people had died from the crash. The identities of the victims were not immediately released. UPS said in a statement Tuesday that it had not confirmed any injuries or fatalities among its crew.
The plane hit buildings that housed two businesses, a waste company and Grade A Auto Parts. Three employees of Grade A were still missing, said Joey Garber, its chief operating officer.
Fifteen victims were brought to hospitals that are part of the University of Louisville, and were treated for burns, shrapnel wounds and other injuries, Jason W. Smith, chief executive of the university health system, said Wednesday. Thirteen patients were discharged, but two were still in critical condition Wednesday, he said.
Louisville is the main air hub for UPS.
The crash disrupted cargo operations for UPS, which has its largest air cargo hub, called Worldport, in Louisville. In a statement, UPS called the city the home of its airline and thousands of employees, and said that package sorting operations there would be halted overnight.
The Louisville airport was the world’s fifth busiest for cargo traffic last year, behind airports in Hong Kong; Shanghai; Memphis, Tennessee; and Anchorage, Alaska, according to Airports Council International, an industry lobbying group.
The airport reopened Wednesday morning, but officials said that delays and cancellations were likely. A shelter-in-place order that was issued Tuesday evening was reduced to a quarter-mile radius around the airport. The local school district said classes would be canceled Wednesday.
Before Wednesday, the most recent crash involving a UPS plane happened in 2013, when a jet that departed from Louisville crashed in Birmingham, Alabama, killing its two pilots.