Washington: The left engine of a UPS cargo plane detached from the aircraft while it was taking off, before it crashed into an industrial area just outside the airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least nine people.

The three onboard crew, along with six people on the ground, died when the wide-body McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft, fully laden with fuel, slammed into the ground on Tuesday evening local time (Wednesday AEDT).

The US National Transportation Safety Board’s Tom Inman said investigators had found the flight’s black boxes, which were being sent to the agency’s Washington headquarters. But CCTV footage gave early indications of what happened to the doomed plane.

“After being cleared for take-off, a large plume of fire in the area of the left wing occurred during the t

See Full Page