There are still several serious injuries
shortly after taking off at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky, in the central-eastern region of the United States, causing at least 11 deaths, as well as several injuries and missing people, US authorities said.
In the most recent report, the mayor of Louisville confirmed two more deaths, bringing the total to 11, adding that this number will rise to 12 by the end of the day. Craig Greenberg also reported that “there are several missing.”
We can now confirm 11 fatalities, and we expect that number to rise to 12 by the end of the day.
Several individuals remain unaccounted for. Please keep the victims, their families, and everyone affected by this tragedy in your thoughts and prayers.
— Mayor Craig Greenberg (@LouisvilleMayor)
UPS Flight 2976 crashed at around 5:15 p.m. [22:15 em Lisboa] on Tuesday, shortly after taking off for Hawaii. There were three crew members on board the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, according to the company.
The location of the reported crash was at the intersection of Fern Valley Road and Grade Lane on the south end of the airport.
Four of the dead were not on the plane and were collateral victims of the fire caused by the crash.
Among the many injured, some suffered “very serious” injuries, said the governor of Kentucky.
Images from a television station showed a large trail of flames and a plume of smoke rising from a parking lot as fire trucks tried to put out the blaze.
The governor said one company, Kentucky Petroleum Recycling, was “hit hard,” and a nearby auto parts factory was also affected.
“We don’t know how long it will take for the area to be considered safe,” said Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey.
UPS’s largest distribution center is in Louisville, and the company announced Tuesday night that it had stopped sorting packages at the center, without saying when activities would resume.
The center employs thousands of employees, carries out 300 daily flights and sorts more than 400,000 parcels per hour.
UPS acknowledged the accident in a brief statement and said the National Transportation Safety Board would conduct an investigation.
