A UPS MD-11 plane crashed this Tuesday shortly after taking off near the Louisville (Kentucky) airport, as confirmed by the Federal Aviation Administration. The incident has left at least seven dead and 11 injured, according to authorities, who expect the number of victims to increase.
The postal and freight transportation company UPS has confirmed that one of in Louisville. “At approximately 5:20 PM ET tonight, UPS Flight 2976 from Louisville, KY, to Honolulu, an MD-11 with three crew members on board, was involved in an accident in Louisville,” UPS said in a statement.
Three crew members were aboard the plane, according to a UPS statement, which said: “At this time, we have not confirmed any injuries or fatalities.” Minutes later, authorities confirmed the death of at least seven people and 11 injuries, some seriously, as confirmed by airport spokesperson Jonathan Biven. Four of the deceased were not traveling on the plane.
Among the 11 injured, some suffered “very significant” injuries, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said. “Anyone who has seen the images, the video, knows how violent this accident is,” he added.
The mayor of Louisville, Craig Greenberg, has assured that there are “multiple injuries and the fire is still continuing.” The councilor added that “all the city’s emergency services are working at the scene.”
UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. The FAA and NTSB will investigate.…
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews)
Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport is home to the global hub, a logistics hub for the company’s air cargo operations. This distribution center, UPS’s largest, employs thousands of workers, runs 300 flights daily and sorts more than 400,000 packages per hour.
All flights to and from the Louisville airport have been temporarily suspended, as announced by the airport through the social network “Passengers should check the status of their flight on their airline’s website or mobile app.”
Images of the accident have been broadcast on local television. After the accident, a dense column of black smoke rose into the sky next to one of the airport runways. The video shows the plane, which appears to be on fire, as it rolled down the runway. According to the images, the plane failed to gain enough height and crashed, causing a large explosion with a huge fireball. The video also shows parts of the shattered roof of a building next to the end of the runway.
The accident has prompted a massive response, including from police and firefighters, and because of the flames, some first responders “have had to take shelter behind different things,” according to authorities.
“It remains a very dangerous situation due to the presence of different flammable or potentially explosive materials,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told the AP.
The Louisville Metro Police Department described the scene as active with “fire and debris.” A column of smoke is seen next to one of the airfield’s runways. Police have warned residents to stay away from Fern Valley and Grade Lane, an intersection located on the south side of the airport, which serves as UPS’s operations center.
“A stay-at-home order has been issued for all locations within a 5-mile radius of the airport. Please stay away from the area until further notice,” the Louisville Metro Police Department wrote on the X social network.
“Louisville Police (LMPD) and other agencies are responding to reports of a plane crash near Fern Valley and Grade Lane,” the police force added. “Grade Lane will remain closed indefinitely between Stooges and Crittenden.”
The accident occurs just when air traffic controllers are warning that they are on the verge of collapse due to the government shutdown that keeps dozens of federal agencies in the United States closed or with few resources.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened this Tuesday before the accident to close certain parts of the country’s airspace next week if the government shutdown continues.
Duffy blamed the Democrats for the shutdown, as the federal budget closure is known in English, which after the failure of this Tuesday’s negotiations will become the longest in history. The Secretary of Transportation warned that if the closure is not unlocked before next November 11, the air transport system “will see widespread chaos, you will see massive flight delays, you will see massive cancellations and we may see that we close certain parts of the airspace because we simply cannot manage it, since we do not have air traffic controllers,” he said during a press conference.
Duffy’s threats contributed to fueling fear of an air incident. “People always ask me if the system is secure, and I would tell them yes, the system is secure; and if it wasn’t, we would shut it down,” the Republican said. “But with this closure, it would be dishonest to say that more risk is not introduced into the system,” he added, according to The New York Times.
More than 2,000 flights that have taken off or landed at US airports have been delayed so far this Tuesday, and more than 60 of these flights have been cancelled, according to FlightAware.
