(BBC News) At least 11 people were killed after a UPS cargo plane crashed during takeoff from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday evening, the state’s governor said.
Andy Beshear said the death toll is expected to rise and likely includes at least one child after the freight plane exploded as it departed Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport at around 17:15 local time (22:15 GMT), he said.
The left engine caught fire and fell from the wing during takeoff, causing a major fire that sent thick plumes of smoke into the air, the National Transportation and Safety Board said.
More than a dozen others were injured in the crash, from burns and shrapnel injuries to smoke inhalation.
Officials said those who survived had suffered “very significant” injuries in the incident. Crews were still searching for other victims, as multiple people remain unaccounted for.
The plane’s three-member crew are thought to be among the dead, Beshear has said.
A preliminary investigation is under way, but officials have said it is too early to say what caused the crash, though surveillance footage and data from the plane are helping piece it together.
Investigators have recovered the cockpit flight recorder and the flight data recorder, known as the black box, said Todd Inman with the NTSB, the agency leading the investigation.
In an update on Wednesday, Inman said that CCTV surveillance footage showed the left engine of the aircraft “detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll”. The video has not yet been released.
He said the plane was able to lift off the ground and cleared a fence at the end of the runway before it hit multiple businesses surrounding the airport.
Beshear declared a state of emergency on Wednesday to help “move resources more quickly through emergency management and the Kentucky National Guard.”
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said that the airport has since reopened its runway so that flights can resume.
At least 16 different families have reported loved ones unaccounted for, according to Beshear.
Two workers at the auto business that was struck were still unaccounted for as of Tuesday evening, and it is not known how many customers were on the premises when the crash happened.
