Louisville Plane Crash Video: Huge fireball engulfs runway as UPS cargo plane crashes; 3 killed

The UPS cargo plane crash, killing at least three people and injuring 11, had crashed and exploded into a massive fireball on Tuesday while taking off from the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville, Kentucky.

The plane crashed about 5:15 PM EST (3:45 AM Thursday IST) as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

Disturbing visuals of the Louisville plane crash have emerged on social media, capturing the exact moment of the fateful incident. Videos after the crash showed a plume of smoke coming from the airport.

A video posted by the US Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy showed flames on the plane's left wing and a trail of smoke. The plane then lifted slightly off the ground before crashing and exploding in a huge fireball.

Video also revealed portions of a building’s shredded roof next to the end of the runway.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said that the number of fatalities is likely to grow. “Right now we believe we have at least three fatalities, though I believe that number is going to get larger. We have at least 11 injuries, some of them very significant,” he said.

“Anybody who has seen the images, the video, knows how violent this crash is,” Beshear said.

A video taken by a passerby shows several massive balls of flames exploding into the sky in a row, followed by large billowing clouds of black smoke.

A host at a nearby restaurant said she heard a “very loud boom.” “The mood in the restaurant was very shaken up,” she said, adding that there were about 20 people in the restaurant at that time.

“Everyone is really concerned. People who just sat down to eat got up and left in under 30 minutes and packed up their food because they wanted to hurry up and get home,” she told news agency AP.

The Louisville airport was shut down and wasn’t expected to resume operations until Wednesday morning. “We don’t know how long it’s going to take to render that scene safe,” said Louisville Police Chief Paul Humphrey.

A shelter-in-place order was extended to all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River. The Louisville airport is only a 10-minute drive from the city’s downtown, which sits on the river bordering the Indiana state line.

(With AP inputs)