UPS plane crashes and explodes at Kentucky airport, leaving at least 9 dead and others missing

Louisville | 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, authorities said.

The plane crashed about 5:15 pm Tuesday as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media that 16 families gathered at a reunification centre “have reported loved ones unaccounted for.”

“This plane barely missed a restaurant bar. It was very close to a very large Ford plant with hundreds, if not a thousand-plus workers," Beshear told CNN. "It was very close to our convention centre that's having a big livestock show that people were arriving for. So, really tough, but recognise it could be worse.”

He said a business, Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, appeared to be “hit pretty directly,” and a nearby auto parts operation was also affected.

University of Louisville Hospital said Wednesday that two people were in critical condition in the burn unit and that 13 others had been treated and discharged. Norton Hospital said it had released three people.

The airport is 7 miles (11.2 kilometres) from downtown Louisville, close to the Indiana state line, residential areas, a water park and museums. A shelter-in-place order was in effect for a quarter of a mile (400-meter) radius, as officials monitored air quality.

Video showed flames on the plane's left wing and a trail of smoke. The plane then lifted slightly off the ground before crashing and exploding in flames. Video showed portions of a building's shredded roof next to the end of the runway.

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 immediately clear if they were being counted among the dead.

“Anybody who has seen the images, the video, knows how violent this crash is,” the governor said.

'We all know somebody who works at UPS'

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The Louisville package handling facility is the company's largest. UPS announced late Tuesday that package sorting at the centre was halted, and the company told workers to not show up Wednesday, too.

The hub employs thousands of workers, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.

“We all know somebody who works at UPS,” Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe said. “And they're all texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everyone is safe. Sadly, some of those texts are probably going to go unanswered.”

Hoping for information about missing loved ones

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Eric Richardson stood outside a police training academy, where people gathered waiting for word of their missing loved ones Tuesday night. He said he was hoping for information about his girlfriend, who had been at a metal recycling business near the explosion and wasn't answering her phone. Her phone's live location said she was still there.

Bobby Whelan, Richardson's friend, had been in front of her in line, but had left minutes before the explosion. He said he was about a quarter of a mile down the road when he heard what sounded like a bomb exploding.

“We don't even want to think about anything but the best,” Whelan said. “All our friends were there.”

Tom Brooks Jr., who runs a metal recycling business down the street, said the unbelievable magnitude of the crash “just rocked the whole place.”

“This was massive. I mean, it literally looked like a war zone,” he said.

Destyn Mitchell was working as a host at an Outback restaurant, about a 15-minute drive from the crash, when she heard a loud boom.

“People 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,” she said.

What happened to the plane?

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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.

“Really, the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,” he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team of investigators.

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's too early to know whether the problem was in the engine, the structure that holds the engine, or something else.

“This 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,” he said.

The airport resumed operations Wednesday morning, with at least one runway open. A public school district in Louisville cancelled classes for the day.