U.S. federal safety investigators have located the "black box" recorders from the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in flames on takeoff from the airport at Louisville, Kentucky, killing at least 12 people, officials said on Wednesday.
Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, also confirmed that a large "plume of fire" erupted around the plane's left wing and that one of its three engines detached from that wing as the wide-body jet was rolling down the runway.
The 34-year-old MD-11 freighter was bound for Honolulu with three crew members aboard when it crashed just after clearing a fence at the end of the runway during takeoff on Tuesday evening, striking a number of structures just beyond airport property, Inman said.
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