At least seven people were killed and eleven others were injured on Tuesday when a cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Louisville, in the central eastern United States.
According to the mayor of Louisville, four of the dead were not on the plane, while all three members of its crew are presumed dead.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said at a press conference that the death toll and the number of injured were preliminary and could rise.
Some of the injured had "very serious" injuries and were being treated at local hospitals, Besir added.
Firefighters are working diligently to locate people trapped in buildings after a plane crashed in Louisville, Kentucky's governor said.
At a later press conference, local police confirmed that four people had died and 11 had been taken to hospital.
Initial reports from Louisville Police spoke of injuries and people trapped, with the area covered in fire and debris.
Authorities are warning residents to avoid the Fern Valley and Grand Lane areas, which are on the south side of the airport, which serves as a hub for UPS. All flights to and from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport have been temporarily suspended, the airport told X, as emergency crews respond to the crashed UPS plane.
Initially, an evacuation order was issued for a 5-mile area around the airport, which was later extended to all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River.
UPS said in a statement that it was notified of the incident and that three crew members were on board the aircraft. The company did not provide further details on the condition of the passengers.
Video shows the aircraft catching fire during takeoff.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said there were multiple injuries from the UPS plane crash on Tuesday.
"We have every emergency service responding to the scene. There are multiple injuries and the fire is still burning," Greenberg said in a post on X.
“There are multiple road closures in the area – please avoid the area,” his post continued. “The plane was carrying 280.000 gallons of fuel.”
UPS Flight 2976, which had taken off at around 5:15 p.m. local time (00:15 Greek time), was heading to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, when it crashed. According to initial data from FlightRadar24, the aircraft reached an altitude of 175 feet shortly after takeoff and was fully fueled for its flight to Hawaii, which may explain the extensive fire that followed.
The crash occurred near Worldport, UPS's international air hub, which processes more than 400.000 packages per hour and is home to 20.000 employees and 300 daily flights.
Source: protothema.gr
