Kentucky plane crash death toll rises to 15 after injured man died on Christmas | Kentucky
The death toll from the early November UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky rose to 15 after a man injured on the ground on Christmas died from his injuries, according to authorities.
Alain Rodriguez Colina was working at a scrapyard, one of the workplaces where UPS Flight 2976 crashed while taking off from the Louisville airport on November 4. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg confirmed Rodriguez’s death on Thursday.
“Alain is the 15th victim of the UPS Flight 2976 crash,” Greenberg said wrote In X. “He was seriously injured during the crash and died in the early hours of this Christmas Day.
“May Alain’s memory be a blessing.”
Separately in X, Beshear in the name While Rodriguez’s death brought “difficult news”, prayers were offered for the relatives of those who died in the accident.
“Let us pray for these families today and in the days, months and years to come, so that they will know that they are not alone and that they are loved.”
Sean Garber, owner of Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling, told the Louisville news outlet: Wave It was stated that Rodriguez was the fourth of the company employees who died in the plane crash. Class A customers were also killed.
Quoted from a company newsletter USA Today Rodriguez said he has been with Grade A since 2023 and has earned a reputation for “going above and beyond for each and every one of them while always greeting customers with a smile.”
Along with the people on the ground, all three pilots of UPS Flight 2976 were killed when the plane’s left engine separated as it departed Muhammad Ali international airport, home to the package delivery service’s largest hub. The scary video recorded the MD-11 plane, which was fully filled with fuel to go to Hawaii, crashing into workplaces near the airport and turning into a fireball.
The National Transportation Safety Board later said investigators found cracks where the plane’s engine attaches to its wing.
Four days after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the grounding of all MD-11s, which had been used solely for flying cargo for more than a decade.
UPS faced a pair of wrongful death lawsuits in early December that accused the company of continuing to fly older planes without increasing their maintenance beyond regularly scheduled amounts. General Electric (GE), the manufacturer of the aircraft’s individual engine, was also named as a defendant in these lawsuits.
Both UPS and GE said they do not comment on unsolved cases but maintained that safety was their top priority in assisting investigators investigating the Nov. 4 crash.
Associated Press contributed reporting
