Nine people are still missing, and twelve have been confirmed dead — including a child and three UPS crew members — as search efforts continue through the wreckage of the UPS plane crash in Louisville. Agents from the FBI are now also assisting NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigators in the search for clues.
Flights for Tuesday were canceled after the crash, but as of Wednesday, the airport had reopened, though some taxiways remain closed. On Thursday, two of three runways reopened, and most flights were on time.
Operations at UPS Worldport resumed Wednesday evening, with flights expected to arrive at their destinations Thursday morning.
In addition to searching the scene of the crash for debris, teams of FBI agents are also recovering debris from homes and businesses. Bomb technicians from the FBI are on the scene to make sure the area is safe.
A massive fire erupted at the scene, spreading nearly a mile. It took firefighters around six hours to get the fire under control. Teams are still working to find and identify victims from the crash and the fire.
“Our hope is that we have located all of the victims at this point. But again, we do not know,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
Greenberg described the crash site as “horrific,” with “charred, mangled metal.” Part of the plane’s tail, he said, appeared to be sticking out of a storage silo.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, and officials have already reviewed security footage from the airport. Footage showed the left engine detaching from the plane during takeoff.
The plane was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 that was built in 1991 and was set to be UPS Flight 2976, headed for Hawaii. Flight records suggest that the plane underwent maintenance while it was grounded in San Antonio for over a month, from September to mid-October, which was confirmed by NTSB member Todd Inman.
The report showed that the plane needed a repair to fix a crack in its fuel tank before it returned to service. Even though the flight was delayed two hours Tuesday evening, there is currently no evidence that a maintenance issue played a role prior to takeoff.
“After being cleared for takeoff, a large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the takeoff roll. The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of Runway 17R,” Inman said. “Shortly after clearing that fence, it made impact with structures and terrain off the airport property. A post-impact fire ensued, which covered approximately half a mile.”
Currently, there are 28 NTSB members on the scene working to find the cause of the crash. Since the investigation is in the early stages, more findings will be released in the coming days by the NTSB exclusively.
The NTSB will determine the probable cause of the crash. Inman says they “will not speculate on what may have caused the incident.”
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder — or the “black boxes” — have been recovered from the wreckage. However, the NTSB says it will take days to retrieve the information.
According to the NTSB, it could take up to a year to determine the official cause of the crash.
