Death toll in Louisville UPS plane crash rises to 9

The death toll from the crash of a UPS cargo plane that erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff in Louisville, Kentucky on Tuesday has risen to nine, city and state officials said Wednesday.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board will be on site later Wednesday morning to begin the process of finding out what went wrong when the 34-year-old MD-11 cargo plane caught fire around 5:13 p.m. ET Tuesday and then crashed.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said nine dead people had been found at the scene of the crash. 

Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick, black smoke seen rising into the evening sky.

Officials said 11 victims had been taken to hospitals on Tuesday. 

"This plane barely missed a restaurant bar. It was very close to a very large Ford plant with hundreds, if not a thousand plus workers,"  Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.

The international airport in Louisville reopened to air traffic early on Wednesday, though the runway where the accident happened is expected to remain closed for another 10 days, officials said.

U.S. aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said on Wednesday he has not seen any evidence of a link between the accident and a 36-day U.S. government shutdown that has strained air traffic control.

NTSB investigators will be looking to retrieve the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder that will shed light on the crash.

Copied