Workers at businesses near Louisville's airport are describing chaos and scenes of devastation after a UPS cargo plane crashed Tuesday shortly after takeoff, killing at least a dozen people and leaving others missing. "It was explosion after explosion after explosion, so you just didn't know when it was going to stop," Georgie Dow, CFO of Grade A Auto Parts, which sits just south of the airport, tells CBS News. Dow says she initially didn't realize a plane had crashed.
UPS Flight 2976, loaded with nearly 20,000 packages and more than 38,000 gallons of fuel, was traveling at close to 200mph when it crashed soon after takeoff, with videos showing its left wing on fire and the plane tilting before erupting in flames. The National Transportation Safety Board says the plane's left engine separated from the aircraft and that black boxes, though fire-damaged, have been recovered for analysis.
The crash scattered wreckage across several local businesses, including a petroleum recycling facility and a scrap metal company owned by Sean Garber. Garber tells CBS that three of his employees remain missing, and electricity outages have complicated efforts to identify the unaccounted for. One worker reportedly evaded the heat by jumping between metal bales, while another helped a customer whose clothing had been burned away. The owner of a truck service shop in the crash area tells Louisville Public Media he and other workers were trapped on the property for hours due to the smoke and fire.
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Cellphone video taken by Garber's son shows the aftermath, with flames and thick smoke stretching for nearly half a mile. Officials say dozens were injured, and as of Wednesday night, at least 14 people were still missing. A nearby resident tells WDRB, "We felt it, heard it, could almost feel a rumble in the ground. It was intense."
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