2 Killed in UPS Cargo Jet Crash

14 Aug, 2013

A UPS cargo plane crashed and burned Wednesday morning on the outskirts of an Alabama airport, killing two crew members and scattering boxes and charred debris across a grassy field, officials said.

The pilot and co-pilot, the only people on board the jet, were killed, said Birmingham Fire Chief Ivor Brooks. The crash site had been burning, but the blaze was extinguished by late morning, Brooks said.

The plane crashed in an open field on the outskirts of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, said Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for the city’s airport authority. The crash had not affected airport operations, though it did appear to topple a tree and a utility pole.

The top was broken out of the tree and there were pieces of a utility pole and limbs in the road. Nearby, grass was blackened near the bottom of a hill, a piece of the fuselage and an engine were visible on the hill’s crest and smoke could be seen rising from the other side.

The plane was carrying a variety of cargo, according to UPS spokesman Jeff Wafford. He did not elaborate. The names and hometowns of the crewmembers have not been released.

AP

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