Worker Adam Bowman was loading scrap metal onto a truck at a scrapyard just south of the Louisville, Kentucky, airport when he heard what he first thought was a transformer explosion.

“I turned around and I see over the fence just a huge cloud of black smoke and just a fireball that was indescribable,” Bowman said. “I’m thinking this is a plane coming down."

And it was: a UPS cargo plane had crashed on takeoff.

Bowman said he initially didn't know whether to run or take cover but chose the latter, diving between giant aluminum bales as explosions and fires erupted nearby.

The horrors were just starting for him, for his coworkers and customers wanting to turn scrap metal into cash at Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling.

Back on his feet and scrambling for survival at Grade A, Bowman heard someone cry for help. Through black smoke he spotted a man unable to flee, so badly burned his clothes were scorched off.

“I told him, ‘Get on my back. We’re going to get up front. We’re going to get you help,’” Bowman, a supervisor at Grade A, told The Associated Press.

Bowman, 44, said he carried the man piggyback and contacted a coworker who steered through the chaos in his pickup truck. They loaded the man into the truck and drove until they found emergency workers.

The crash last week killed 14 people and sparked a devastating ripple effect, striking and causing blasts at Kentucky Petroleum Recycling and hitting Grade A.

The plane crashed about 5:15 p.m. as it was departing for Honolulu from UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville. The plane’s left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded, a federal official said last week. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.