Washington [US], November 6: Federal safety investigators have located the "black boxes" from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff from the airport at Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least nine people, officials said on Thursday.
Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, also confirmed that a large "plume of fire" erupted around the plane's left wing and that one of the plane's three engines detached from the left wing as the aircraft was rolling down the runway.
The wide-body cargo jet, an MD-11-F built in 1991 by Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab, was bound for Honolulu with three crew members aboard when it crashed moments after clearing the runway on takeoff on Tuesday evening, striking a number of structures just beyond airport property, Inman said.
The plane was immediately engulfed in a fireball that ignited a string of blazes and left a debris field stretching about a half a mile through an industrial corridor, including a petroleum recycling facility that was set ablaze.
The crash also disrupted Louisville-based operations at the UPS (UPS.N), opens new tab Worldport facility, the company's global cargo hub for its air shipments, slowing delivery services.
Inman, in the first NTSB briefing since the disaster, said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were built to withstand crash impacts and intense heat from fires and that they appeared to be intact when located on Wednesday amid the crash debris.
Earlier on Wednesday, Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency in Kentucky aimed at hastening the flow of disaster response resources to the scene of the crash.
As of Wednesday, at least six people were confirmed to have been killed on the ground and nearly a dozen others injured, in addition to three members of the plane's crew also perished, authorities said.
Beshear told reporters he expects the death toll could grow by at least one more as emergency personnel and recovery crews pick through the crash zone.
About 200 firefighters and emergency personnel and 50 trucks were called on Tuesday to battle the blaze which filled the evening sky with thick, black smoke.
Still, Beshear said a nearby convention center, restaurant and Ford Motor Co (F.N), opens new tab plant escaped the blaze.
"It's hard to lose nine plus people and consider yourself lucky," Beshear said. "And I don't think we're lucky but it could have been much worse."
Officials said 11 victims were taken to hospitals on Tuesday while a government official told Reuters at least 10 others remain unaccounted for. Beshear said two people remain in critical condition.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation