What we covered here
• Deadly crash: A UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Louisville, Kentucky, airport Tuesday, leaving a half-mile-long debris field. At least 12 people died, with officials warning the death toll could climb.
• Investigation underway: An NTSB investigation team has recovered the aircraft’s “black boxes” — the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder.
• State of emergency: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and mobilized the National Guard in an effort to free up resources.
Our live coverage has ended. Get the latest here.
Day 1 of the investigation into a fiery UPS cargo plane crash draws to a close. Here's what we know
Shortly after it took off on Tuesday, a UPS freight plane fatally crashed near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. It left a fiery trail of destruction through businesses and roads that investigators are now sifting through as they work to uncover the cause of the crash.
Here’s the latest:
Increasing casualties: The death toll reached 12 by Wednesday evening, and officials have said they still expect that number to climb as emergency crews transition to the recovery phase of the response. None of the victims has been identified.
Ongoing investigation: An NTSB investigation team arrived in Louisville today, recovering crucial assets like the aircraft’s black boxes, which store flight data and cockpit voice recordings. The NTSB has asked the public to turn in any scraps found within the half-mile debris field from the crash to aid its investigation.
Flights resume: Passenger flights in and out of Louisville’s international airport have resumed, but are experiencing a significant backlog due to delays on Tuesday. UPS planes also began departing from the airport again around 24 hours after the cargo plane crashed.
Industry turbulence: Just one day after the aviation tragedy struck Louisville, the Department of Transportation announced it will reduce air traffic by 10% at 40 major airports starting Friday if no government shutdown deal is reached, citing safety concerns due to air traffic controller staffing shortages.
Conditions of some victims' bodies may make them harder to identify, Kentucky governor says
Coroners are working to identify remains found at the Louisville crash site of the UPS cargo plane, but the conditions of some victims’ bodies may make their task more difficult, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said.
“So that process is moving right now,” Beshear said at a news conference on Wednesday. “Identities of the victims will be released by the coroner.”
But because of the conditions of some remains, it “may take some testing.”
Beshear emphasized that they were trying to notify families as soon as possible.
UPS plane seen without one engine before crash
New dash camera video shows the moments before the UPS plane crashed in Louisville on Tuesday. The plane can be seen missing its left engine before it hits the ground, and a fireball erupts.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Video Credit: Anela Hadžić
Louisville airport reopens second runway following UPS plane crash
Two out of the three runways at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport are open as of Wednesday night, according to an update from the airport.
“(East Runway) is now open following yesterday’s aircraft incident at SDF,” the airport said in an X post. “With the addition of the East Runway, this means two of SDF’s three runways are available for aircraft operations.”
Passenger flights to and from Louisville are resuming amid a major backlog of delayed flights from Tuesday night, according to the airport’s website.
UPS says it's working with authorities, CEO shares condolences with company
One day after a UPS cargo plane crashed during takeoff in Louisville, the company said in a statement on Wednesday that it’s continuing to work with National Transportation Safety Board investigators and local authorities while they investigate.
UPS CEO Carol Tomé told employees she has received support from all around the world as the company “continue(s) our commitment to safety, care and community,” the statement said.
“We have suffered a tragic accident involving Flight 2976. We are deeply saddened and our hearts continue to be with all who have been impacted,” Tomé said.
Kentucky is home to one burn unit now treating victims of the fiery UPS plane crash
The burn unit at University of Louisville Health immediately initiated “disaster” mode after a UPS cargo plane crashed near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport – something the team is uniquely prepared to do, according to Dr. Jason Smith, the hospital’s CEO and chief medical officer.
The crash was quickly followed by a massive fiery explosion.
“We actually just had (a drill) about a month and a half ago that was involving a ‘plane crash’ at the airport,” Smith said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
UofL Health’s Burn Center is the only one of its kind in Kentucky and is certified by the American Burn Association, meaning the hospital’s burn treatment practices and teams have been rigorously reviewed.
The center treats up to 350 patients a year, according to the hospital website. Some of those patients are from Kentucky while others come from Ohio and Indiana, according to Smith.
It’s the only trauma response hospital in the region, Smith said. With the help of emergency medical services, hospital staff were equipped to treat all patients, regardless of injury severity, he added.
Burn injuries related to the plane crash, ranging from severe to minor, were seen by hospital staff along with blast and shrapnel injuries, according to Smith.
Hospital sees severe burns and blast injuries among crash victims, CEO says
Staff at the hospital treating more than a dozen people injured in the fiery plane crash Tuesday have seen burns and shrapnel injuries, according to Dr. Jason Smith, CEO and chief medical officer of UofL Health in Louisville, Kentucky.
“We’ve seen blast injuries from the explosion itself,” Smith said in a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve also seen some shrapnel injuries, where flying pieces of debris have hit either bystanders or people in relatively close proximity to the accident.”
Hospital staff have also seen burn injuries ranging from severe to minor and have treated some people for smoke inhalation, according to Smith. The hospital immediately initiated a “disaster alert” following the crash.
“Over the course of the evening, we treated around 15 (people) across the different parts of our health care system from the incident itself,” Smith said.
Two of the 15 patients are in critical condition while 13 others have been discharged, hospital spokesperson Heather Fountaine said earlier.
UPS planes taking off from Louisville International Airport again
Approximately 24 hours after a UPS plane crashed near the Louisville airport, UPS flights are up and running again.
CNN crews witnessed at least 10 UPS flights take off from Louisville in the span of half an hour just before 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
Watch as investigators search crash site
Investigators were searching the UPS plane crash site on Wednesday, video from CNN affiliate WLKY showed.
And investigators will conduct what’s known as a FOD walk on the runway on Wednesday night, looking for any foreign objects and/or debris (FOD) that may be related to this incident, said Todd Inman, an NTSB official, during a press conference.
Video credit: WLKY
At least 12 people killed after plane crash, mayor's office says
At least 12 people were killed after the UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff Tuesday evening, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s office told CNN on Wednesday.
Of the 12 victims, three are likely the three crew members who were on the flight when it crashed, with the other nine still unidentified, the mayor told CNN affiliate WHAS.
“At this point, there could be more confirmed fatalities,” Greenberg said, adding emergency crews have transitioned into the recovery phase of the response.
This post has been updated with information from the mayor’s office.
Kentucky congressman describes plane crash site as “apocalyptic”
Kentucky Rep. Morgan McGarvey described the site of the UPS plane crash in Louisville as “apocalyptic,” saying the incident will “change people’s lives in this community forever.”
“The skies over Louisville looked apocalyptic last night. People scared all over our community, debris falling, ash falling, people sheltering in place – my family one of those families,” McGarvey said, adding the crash site looks like it could be a scene from a “Terminator” movie.
“It is burned and mangled wreckage beyond anything I’ve ever seen. The smells, the sights, these are things that are not going to escape us when we close our eyes tonight,” McGarvey said at a news conference.
"Destroyed" UPS plane crash site is marked by mangled remnants, Kentucky Gov. says
The vast wreckage left behind by a plane crash involving a UPS cargo aircraft is what’s left of the crash site, which Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said is “destroyed.”
“Where the plane hit and where the initial explosion happened, you have significant damage,” Beshear said. The mangled remnants of what was in the plane’s path Tuesday are completely burnt and blackened, he added.
“And then, like a lot of these disasters, just five or six feet away, not even the paint is disturbed on another vehicle or another building,” Beshear said as he described the scene where a nearby restaurant was found completely intact.
Death toll from plane crash rises to 11, is "expected to reach 12" by day's end, governor says
The number of people killed in the UPS plane crash in Louisville on Tuesday has risen to 11 and is “expected to reach 12” by the end of Wednesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference.
“Our fatality count is now up to 11, expected to reach 12, possibly by the end of the day, and there are a handful of other people that we’re still searching for, that we hope weren’t on site and that we hope were somewhere else,” Beshear said.
Among those killed, at least one person is believed to be a child, “and a young child at that, which makes it all the harder,” Beshear said.
The governor said responders are moving from rescue mode to recovery mode.
Gov. Beshear calls for swift answers amid plane crash investigation
The cause of Tuesday’s deadly plane crash in Louisville should not take years to determine, according to Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash.
"We do not expect to find anyone else alive," Gov. Beshear says
Search and rescue operations following Tuesday’s UPS plane crash will be limited Wednesday night, Gov. Andy Beshear said, noting the death toll is only expected to go up.
Officials are now prioritizing the safety of first responders, “Because if you walk through this debris field,” Beshear added, “It’s very easy for somebody to get hurt.”
Transportation secretary offers condolences to UPS crash victims' families
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered his condolences to the friends and families of the victims of the UPS cargo flight crash as the investigation into the tragedy gets underway.
Duffy said at a Wednesday news conference he spoke to the head of the UPS pilots’ union, who indicated he was “very good friends with the pilots on that aircraft.”
FBI assisting in UPS plane crash investigation, NTSB says
The FBI is assisting the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of the deadly UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday, according to the NTSB.
“The FBI and other federal, state and local agencies often are partners to the NTSB on scene, collecting evidence, taking photographs, mapping and measuring the wreckage field and generally serving as a force multiplier for the NTSB go team,” the NTSB said in a post on Wednesday.
The NTSB is leading the investigation and is receiving assistance from the FBI through “a longstanding interagency agreement,” the post added.
Two victims remain in ICU in critical condition, hospital says
University of Louisville Health received 15 patients across several hospitals and medical centers following the crash, two of whom are still in critical condition, said Heather Fountaine, media relations manager for the the hospital.
The two patients are in intensive care at UofL Health, while the 13 other patients have been discharged, Fountaine said.
Aircraft was not delayed and no maintenance work was done before crash, NTSB says
The UPS flight was not delayed and no maintenance work was done immediately before the crash Tuesday, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said Wednesday.
“As part of the maintenance group, they will be going back and looking at every aspect of maintenance that was done on this plane, and how many cycles since this occurred to date,” Inman said. “UPS has indicated to us that it was not delayed and that there was not maintenance work done immediately before.”
Inman said the NTSB will still “independently verify,” but preliminarily, the agency has not found anything disproving that.
