Large plumes of smoke filled the sky after a UPS cargo plane crashed near Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport on Nov. 4, 2025.

At least 7 people are dead and multiple others are injured after a United Parcel Service cargo plane crashed and erupted into a massive fireball shortly after takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, officials said

"Anybody who has seen the images in the video knows how violent this crash is," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in a news conference on Nov. 4. He expects the death toll to rise.

Video footage of the crash appeared to show the plane taking off with fire on one wing, and a huge fireball erupted as it hit the ground. Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick black smoke rising into the sky.

"UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky," the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. The FAA said the plane was scheduled to fly to Honolulu.

Here's what to know about the deadly UPS cargo plane crash:

How many victims were involved in the crash?

Three crew members were onboard the plane at the time of the incident, UPS and officials said. More than 100 firefighters were at the scene on Nov. 4 searching for additional victims and working to suppress some hot spots where the crash occurred, according to Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg.

Greenberg confirmed that those killed in the incident were the three crew members and four others who were not on the plane.

Earlier, Jonathan Biven, a public safety officer for the Louisville airport, reported that 11 people were injured and were transported to local hospitals. Beshear previously said some of the victims had sustained serious injuries.

What caused the fatal crash?

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. The Federal Aviation Administration said the National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation.

Greenberg said about 28 people from the NTSB will arrive in Louisville on Wednesday, Nov. 5. "They're sending a large crew to do the investigation and deal with this disaster," Greenberg said.

Where did the crash take place?

The crash occurred in a largely industrial area just south of Muhammad Ali International Airport, about six miles south of downtown Louisville.

Businesses in the area include Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant, UPS Flight Training Center, and UPS Worldport Freight Facility, among others. UPS said in a statement that it has shut down operations at Worldport.

The airport is a global hub for UPS's air cargo operations and its largest package handling facility in the world.

Employees of affected businesses accounted for

Beshear said that two businesses were directly affected by the deadly crash — Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and Grade A Auto Parts.

Employees of businesses that were affected by the crash have been accounted for, according to Greenberg.

"They have accounted for the individuals that they're aware of in terms of their employees or people that were on their property," Greenberg said. "Either accounted for them alive or as some of those four victims. We're not aware of any that are missing right now."

UPS flight 2976 crash map

What type of plane was involved in the crash?

UPS confirmed in its statement that the crash involved a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 airplane. The jet, first launched in 1990, hasn't carried a passenger flight since 2014 but remains active as a cargo plane.

The MD-11 has three engines, with one mounted under each wing and one mounted under its tail. It is the only plane in the UPS fleet to have a tail engine.

The flight from Louisville to Honolulu typically takes 8 1/2 hours, according to flight-tracking service FlightRadar24. The FAA requires a third crew member aboard flights longer than eight hours.

In February 2023, the president of UPS told supply chain industry publication Freight Waves that the MD-11 was being phased out in favor of newer Boeing planes.

How common are cargo plane crashes?

Of six fatal accidents involving commercial airliners around the globe in 2017, four were cargo planes and accounted for 12 of 19 on-board deaths that year, according to data analyzed by the International Air Transport Association.

From 2013 to 2017, data showed that 75 cargo accidents led to 119 fatalities, the agency said. The data showed that cargo operations were "in need of additional attention" to improve safety, according to the agency’s senior vice president for safety and flight operations, Gilberto Lopez Meyer.

Among the notable fatal cargo plane crashes in recent years in the United States are a February 2019 crash in Trinity Bay, Texas, involving an Atlas Air flight operating on behalf of Amazon Prime Air, killing all three crew members on board. In August 2004, an Air Tahoma flight crashed during landing at the Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky International Airport, about 100 miles northeast of Louisville. The crash killed a first officer while the pilot survived.

The last major plane crash at the airport occurred Sept. 28, 1953, when a C-46 carrying soldiers from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, to Fort Knox, crashed upon landing. The plane was one of five operated by Resort Airlines and chartered by the U.S. Army.

Contributing: Leo Bertucci, USA TODAY Network; Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here's what we know about the deadly UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky

Reporting by James Powel, Chris Kenning, Olivia Evans, Matthew Glowicki, Amanda Lee Myers and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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