At least nine people, including three crew members, have been confirmed dead after a cargo plane carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel crashed near an airport in Kentucky, United States.
Eleven other people reportedly sustained varying degrees of injuries after the UPS aircraft went down near Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.
The cargo plane is said to have crashed less than a minute after takeoff, resulting in the destruction of two buildings.
Videos circulating online show a fireball and a massive plume of smoke after the plane went down just a few miles from the airport. The wreckage reportedly triggered a large fire.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the crash occurred around 5:15 p.m. as the plane departed the airport bound for Honolulu, Hawaii.
The FAA added that the aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, a model primarily used by cargo airlines.
Speaking at a news conference, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear described the incident as “catastrophic” and urged local residents to comply with any shelter-in-place orders.
Meanwhile, the cause of the crash is being investigated by the country’s FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
