At least three people are dead after a UPS plane crashed as it was taking off late Tuesday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, igniting a large fire and producing a large cloud of black smoke over the area.
UPS Flight 2976, with three crew on board, crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Gov. Andy Beshear said three deaths have been confirmed, but he believes that number will grow. At least 11 people suffered injuries, some of them significant, he said.
Beshear called it "a catastrophic crash adjacent to our airport."
A petroleum recycling business and an an auto parts business are in the area hit, Beshear said.
The auto parts business has accounted for all of its employees but two, "but they do not know how many other individuals — customers or others — could have been on site at the time," the governor said.
"Because of the nature of these facilities, it may be some time before we can account for everyone or know that no one else was on the grounds," he said.
The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, was headed to Honolulu, the FAA said. It crashed "when departing the West Runway," according to the airport.
Video from the scene showed a fire and black smoke rising from an area appearing to be near the runway.
Beshear said officials don't believe there was any cargo on the plane that would cause an environmental impact. However, the governor said, the area where the crash occurred could create an environmental impact. He urged people to obey shelter-in-place orders.
“We have virtually every single fire, police and emergency response group that is responding right now,” Beshear said.
All arriving and departing flights from the airport were temporarily suspended and the airfield was closed, the airport said.
Police said people in areas north of the Outer Loop to the Ohio River should shelter in place.
Greenberg said in a phone interview with NBC affiliate WAVE of Louisville that the plane’s fuel load was causing the fire on the ground.
“All of our emergency resources are on the scene right now,” he said.
UPS has a large presence in Louisville. UPS Air Operations is headquartered in the city, where it also has its main hub.
UPS began its overnight air service with its main hub at the airport, known by the letters SDF, in 1982.
UPS is the biggest employer in the Louisville area, with around 25,000 people working for the company there. There are around 400 flights arriving and departing each day at its hub, the city says on its website.
Federal officials said the National Transportation Safety Board and FAA will investigate.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on X said called the images out of Kentucky "heartbreaking."
"Please join me in prayer for the Louisville community and flight crew impacted by this horrific crash," he wrote.
U.S. Sen Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on Facebook that he and his team were monitoring the situation. "Thank you to the first responders on the scene. I encourage everyone in the area to follow emergency and law enforcement guidance," he said.
