The left wing of a UPS cargo plane caught fire and its engine fell off in the moments before the aircraft crashed and exploded after take-off in Kentucky, according to US aviation authorities who say they have recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the wreckage.

The crash and fire on Tuesday, local time, killed at least nine people, destroyed the plane and sparked smaller explosions at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and an auto salvage yard in Louisville, authorities say.

Three people were aboard when the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 made in 1991, crashed as it took off for Honolulu from UPS Worldport at Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport at about 5:15pm.

About 200 firefighters and emergency personnel and 50 trucks were called to battle the blaze, whi

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