At least 7 dead in UPS plane crash in Louisville

A UPS cargo plane crashed and exploded in a massive fireball Tuesday while taking off from the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville. WAVE-TV reports that at least seven people are dead, and at least 11 are injured. 

The  McDonnell Douglas MD-11, made in 1991,.crashed about 5:15 p.m. as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

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 a huge fireball. Video also revealed portions of a building’s shredded roof next to the end of the runway.

The status of the three crew members was unknown. 

UPS’s largest package handling facility is in Louisville. Their Worldhub center employs twenty thousand workers, has 300 daily flights and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour. Their complement of aircraft includes 27 of the MD-11s, along with five other types of planes..

“This will be an ongoing active scene for the next several days. We don’t know how long it’s going to take to render that scene safe,” said Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey.
The airport was shut down and wasn’t expected to resume operations until Wednesday morning.

A shelter-in-place order was issued for a one-mile radius of the airport, with a warning not to breathe smoke or handle debris from the crash.. All Jefferson County public schools are also closed Wednesday.