Cargo plane crashes in Kentucky, killing 7. Here is what went wrong

A cargo plane crashed in the United States’ Kentucky on Tuesday (November 4) evening, killing at least seven people and wounding 11 others. The UPS freight plane veered off the runway and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Louisville International Airport.

The burning aircraft hit several buildings when it crashed while taking off, causing extensive damage. Officials fear the death toll and injuries could rise.

Let’s take a closer look.

UPS cargo plane crashes

UPS flight 2976, a cargo plane operated by the American delivery company UPS, carrying three crew members, crashed during takeoff at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport at around 17:15 local time (3:45 am IST) on Tuesday.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport when it came down, erupting into a ball of fire, as per an Associated Press (AP) report.

Videos showed flames engulfing the plane’s left wing, leaving a trail of smoke.

The plane gained an altitude of 175 feet, reaching a speed of 184 knots before a sharp descent, Reuters reported, citing Flightradar24.

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The MD-11 freighter, which was 34 years old, had flown from Louisville to Baltimore earlier in the day before returning to Louisville, according to the flight tracking service.

Death toll & damage

The UPS plane crash killed at least seven people, including all three aboard the aircraft, officials said. Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters at a briefing last night that four fatalities were confirmed on the ground.

Eleven other people were injured on the ground and were being treated in the hospital.

“The news out of Louisville is tough tonight as the death toll has now reached at least 7, with that number expected to rise,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear wrote on X earlier. “First responders are onsite and working hard to extinguish the fire and continue the investigation.”

The burning aircraft hit at least two nearby businesses, including Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and Grade A Auto Parts, according to Beshear.

The airport, located in Kentucky’s biggest city, is surrounded by several neighbourhoods and business districts.

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The Louisville fire chief said that the cargo plane set off “secondary explosions” at a petroleum recycling facility in the area where it crashed.

“There are some storage tanks there that have propane and oil. Some of those have ruptured. You might have heard there were some secondary explosions …some of that were small tanks,” Chief Brian O’Neill was quoted as saying by CNN.

Earlier, Governor Beshear had said Kentucky Petroleum Recycling was struck “pretty directly”.

A large UPS cargo plane crashed Tuesday while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky. At least 3 people are dead and 11 are injured, and the governor says the numbers are likely to grow. pic.twitter.com/fFGTpsgJeK

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 5, 2025

The burning plane that sparked a string of blazes on the ground in a nearby industrial corridor forced authorities to temporarily suspend all flights into and out of the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration also temporarily restricted airspace around the airport.

Hundreds of firefighters have nearly contained the fire from the crash and will search the area “grid by grid” for potential victims, the fire chief said at a news briefing.

O’Neill said the blaze “controlled and contained” but the area around the facility is “still going to be a mess … because of the fuel leaks and the oil.”

“We’ll be there for a while handling that scene,” he added.

Nearby residents were told to stay inside over fears of further explosions and air pollution.

Governor Beshear assured that the cargo plane was not carrying any hazardous cargo that would “create an environmental issue”.

“The radius for the shelter in place has been adjusted,” the Kentucky governor said. “It is now anything north of the airport to the Ohio River.”

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What caused the Kentucky cargo plane crash?

It is too soon to say.
However, officials noted that the massive blaze was due to the amount of fuel onboard the ill-fated aircraft.

The triple-engine plane was carrying 38,000 gallons (144,000 litres) of fuel for an over eight-hour flight to Honolulu.

According to the Louisville Fire Department chief, the amount of fuel spilt at the crash site made it a “very dangerous situation”.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation into the UPS cargo plane crash. A spokesperson for the board said it was sending a team to the site.

The NTSB usually takes 12 to 24 months to complete a probe, finding probable causes and issuing recommendations to prevent similar incidents.

UPS, which is the largest employer in Louisville, said in a statement it was “terribly saddened” by the crash.

“Our heartfelt thoughts are with everyone involved. UPS is committed to the safety of our employees, our customers and the communities we serve. This is particularly true in Louisville, home to our airline and thousands of UPSers,” the statement read.

“We are engaged with the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation of the accident and are staying in close contact with the Federal Aviation Administration,” the company added. “We will work tirelessly with state and local authorities on response efforts.”

Investigators will look into the reason why one engine seemed to have separated from the plane ahead of the crash, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters, pointing to video reports of debris on the airfield.

US air safety expert and pilot John Cox said investigators will find out why the triple-engine plane failed to fly after the first one caught fire. “It’s too big a fire for a normal, typical-engine fire. It’s much too big,” Cox told the British news agency.

“That airplane should have flown on two engines. So now we’ve got to look at what caused it not to fly,” he added.

Speaking to AP, Pablo Rojas, an aviation attorney, said that, as per videos, it appears the aircraft was struggling to achieve altitude as a fire broke out on its left side around one engine.

Due to the massive amount of fuel on the plane, it would have been “only a matter of time before there was an explosion or the fire grew considerably”.

“There’s very little to contain the flames and really the plane itself is almost acting like a bomb because of the amount of fuel,” he said.

With inputs from agencies