[Watch] UPS Cargo Plane Crashes After Takeoff From Louisville Airport; Seven Dead, Several Injured

Louisville: A United Parcel Service (UPS) cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky on Tuesday evening, killing at least seven people and injuring 11 others. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter, went down around 5:15 pm local time soon after departure for Honolulu, officials said.

The plane reportedly struck two nearby businesses after takeoff, setting off a massive fireball that engulfed the area in flames and smoke. Witnesses said they saw the aircraft veer to one side before crashing near the airport’s vast logistics hub. Local authorities ordered residents north of the airport to shelter in place due to thick smoke and fears of hazardous fumes from the burning jet fuel.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the plane was carrying nearly 280,000 gallons of jet fuel, which intensified the blaze and complicated rescue efforts. Firefighters and emergency responders battled the flames for hours, as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear confirmed that first responders were on the scene conducting search and recovery operations.
Watch the crash video here:

The aircraft, built in 1991 and part of UPS’s fleet since 2006, was one of the older models still in active service. The crash site lies close to UPS’s Worldport hub, the company’s largest global air-freight facility that handles around 300 flights a day and processes more than 400,000 packages per hour.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched a joint investigation to determine the cause of the crash. Preliminary reports suggest the jet may have experienced a technical malfunction shortly after liftoff, though officials have not confirmed this.

As firefighters continued to cool the debris late into the night, UPS expressed condolences to the families of the victims and said it was cooperating fully with investigators. Authorities are expected to release the identities of those killed once next of kin are notified.

The crash is one of the deadliest incidents involving a UPS aircraft in recent years and is expected to trigger a thorough review of safety procedures at the Louisville hub.