Engine fell off cargo plane before crash that killed 12
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A cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in the US state of Kentucky, killing at least 12 people, including a child.
First responders are searching for more victims a day after the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville, after the inferno consumed the enormous aircraft and spread to nearby businesses.
After being cleared for takeoff, a large fire developed in the left wing, said Todd Inman of the US National Transportation Safety Board.
The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday afternoon, local time.
Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll”, Inman told reporters on Wednesday.
The cockpit voice recorder and data recorder were recovered, and the engine was discovered on the airfield, Inman said.
The plane with three people aboard was departing for Honolulu.
Inman said so far there was no evidence of a link between the accident and a 36-day US government shutdown that has strained air traffic control.
The crash had a devastating ripple effect, striking and causing smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting an auto salvage yard, killing a child who was with a parent at the business.
US Representative Morgan McGarvey praised firefighters who rushed headfirst to the disaster scene, describing it as “hotter than hell and raining down oil”.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced on social platform X the death toll had risen to 12, saying authorities were still looking for a handful of other people but do not expect to find anyone else alive.
University of Louisville Hospital said two people were in critical condition in the burn unit. Eighteen people were treated and discharged at that hospital or other health care centres.
The crash and ensuing fires also forced a shutdown of the airport for the night and disrupted airport-based operations at the UPS Worldport facility, slowing delivery services. UPS said it was “terribly saddened”.
The hub employs more than 20,000 people in the region, handles 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages an hour.
Governor Andy Beshear said an emergency relief fund, typically used to help people in natural disasters, is accepting donations to help with funeral expenses and other hardships.
“In Kentucky, we grieve together and we support one another,” Beshear said.
Eric Richardson stood outside a police training academy, where people gathered waiting for word of their missing loved ones on Tuesday night.
He said his girlfriend, who had been at a metal recycling business near the explosion, wasn’t answering her phone. Her phone’s live location said she was still there.
“We don’t even want to think about anything but the best,” a friend, Bobby Whelan, said. “All our friends were there.”
Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said a number of things could have caused the fire as the UPS plane was rolling down the runway.
“It could have been the engine partially coming off and ripping out fuel lines. Or it could have been a fuel leak igniting and then burning the engine off. It’s just too soon to tell,” Guzzetti said.
With Reuters
AP
