LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A large UPS cargo plane with three people aboard crashed Tuesday while taking off from an airport in Louisville, Kentucky, igniting an explosion and massive fire that left a thick plume of black smoke over the area.

The plane crashed about 5:15 p.m. as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Injuries were reported, the Louisville Metro Police Department said in a social media post.

“My understanding is that there were about 280,000 gallons of fuel on the plane, and so that is extreme reason for concern in so many different ways,” Mayor Craig Greenberg told WLKY-TV.

UPS’s largest package handling facility is in Louisville. The hub employs thousands of workers, has 300 daily flights an

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