Death toll in UPS plane crash rises to Il

The search for victims and the investigation into the air disaster continue in Kentucky.

- By BRUCE SCHREINER, HALLIE GOLDEN AND DyLan LovaAN

FIRE and smoke rise from where a UPS cargo plane crashed near an airport in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday.

(STEPHEN COHEN Getty Images)

A UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in Kentucky, a federal investigator said Wednesday, offering the first official details about a disaster that killed at least ll people, includinga child.

First responders, meanwhile, searched for more victims, a day after the crash at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville. It created an inferno that consumed the aircraft and spread to nearby businesses.

After the clearance for takeoff, a large fire developed in the left wing, said Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation.

The plane gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing just outside Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Inman told reporters.

Airport security video “shows the left engine detaching from the wing during the takeoff roll,” he said.

The cockpit voice recorderand data recorder were recovered, and the engine was discovered on the airfield, Inman said.

The plane with three people aboard crashed about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday as it was departing for Honolulu.

The crash had a ripple effect, striking and causing smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting an auto salvage yard, though it could have been worse, Gov. Andy Beshear said.