Federal investigators say they have recovered the flight recorder from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least 12 people.
UPS Flight 2976 crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday as it departed from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali airport bound for Honolulu, Hawaii.
CCTV footage from the airport showed that the plane’s “left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll” before it caught fire, according to National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman.
“After being cleared for takeoff, a large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the takeoff roll. The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of runway 17R,” Inman said at a news conference on Wednesday.
The NTSB is an independent US government agency that investigates all civilian plane crashes alongside the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Inman said investigators found the plane’s engine on the airfield, but he did not explain how or why it may have detached from the 31-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-11 wide-body aircraft during takeoff or how the plane’s wing caught fire.
Authorities have also recovered the plane’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which have been sent to the lab for processing, he said. It will be months, however, before the investigation concludes.
Flight 2976 hit several buildings near the airport as it crashed, leaving an 800-metre trail of fire and destruction, according to authorities.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told local news outlet WHAS-TV on Wednesday that 12 people were confirmed dead, while 15 people from the nearby area have been reported missing.
“We believe that three of [confirmed fatalities] are likely the crew, and nine others, all of whom those nine are unidentified at this time,” Greenberg said.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear earlier told a news conference that the deaths had risen to 11, but said he expected it “to reach 12 possibly by the end of the day”.
Among the buildings hit by the plane were a petroleum recycling company and an auto parts company, but it missed hitting a nearby Ford Motor factory and a convention centre, Beshear said.
“I’ve walked the line of an F4 tornado through my dad’s hometown. I’ve seen towns hit by flooding we’d only describe as biblical. What this scene is is violent,” Beshear told the media.
“Where the initial explosion happened, you have significant damage. And then, like a lot of these disasters, just five or six feet [1.5 to 1.8 metres] away, not even the paint disturbed on another vehicle.”
UPS said Wednesday that it will soon reopen its facility at Louisville airport, after suspending operations following the accident, according to the Reuters news agency.
The airport is home to UPS Worldport, a global distribution centre that processes millions of packages each day and sees upwards of 300 daily cargo flights, according to the agency.
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