At least 9 people are dead, 16 are missing, and more than 11 were injured after a UPS plane crashed in Kentucky. The flight crashed after taking off at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport on Tuesday
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Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg weighed in on the tragedy, saying that emergency crews are coming through the wreckage. The UPS Flight 2976 carried three crew members when it exploded 13 minutes after takeoff.
It had been headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu. But it crashed into a petroleum recycling plant. Louisville Fire Chief Brian O’Neill said crews of more than 100 firefighters worked for hours on the blaze. The area is a hazard zone.
UPS Crash
“We have watched this terrible video, we have watched these horrible incidents, just remember, please, those are real people that that impacted, let’s take a moment to think about them and their families and their loved ones,” O’Neill said at a press briefing.
Following the UPS crash, the Louisville Metro Police Department issued a shelter-in-place order for areas around the airport.
“Having a tragedy like this in your backyard impacts all of us greatly,” Greenberg said. “I know the feeling that I first got when I saw the plume of smoke, and when I’d heard what had happened, and how my heart dropped. I know that everyone in Louisville had that same exact feeling. Tonight, we simply ask for prayers and support for those who have been directly impacted by it and their families.”
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Betsy Ruhe weighed in on the tragedy.
“My cousin’s a UPS pilot. My aide’s tennis partner is a UPS pilot. The intern in my office works overnight at UPS to pay for college. We all know somebody who works at UPS and they’re texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everybody’s safe. Sadly, some of those texts are probably going to go unanswered. My heart goes out to those families and those friends,” she said at the press conference.
Investigations into the crash continue as search and rescue crews continue their efforts to find any survivors and recover bodies.