A Kentucky man narrowly escaped tragedy after leaving his trailer just moments before it was destroyed in the fiery UPS plane crash near Louisville earlier this week.
“It was just terrifying,” said Robert Sanders, a maintenance worker for Grade A Auto Parts and Recycling who had lived on the property for 12 years, in an interview with CBS affiliate WLKY. “I’d never been that scared, you know? And it’s still messing with me.”
According to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman, the MD-11-F cargo plane was traveling from Louisville to Honolulu when it crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Preliminary findings show that three people were onboard when “a large plume of fire” erupted from the area of the left wing during the takeoff roll, Inman said during a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
The plane managed to lift off and clear the fence at the end of the runway before crashing into multiple structures beyond airport property. Airport CCTV footage showed the left engine detaching from the wing during takeoff, and nearby surveillance video captured the aircraft dragging along the ground with flames trailing behind it.
Officials have confirmed that at least 13 people died, including a grandfather and his 3-year-old granddaughter.
Sanders says he survived only because of timing. Just two minutes before impact, he had stepped out of his trailer to go to another building. Moments later, the crash obliterated his home.
“I started hearing this real loud rumbling, roaring sound,” Sanders recalled. “I stepped outside the bay door and looked, and the only thing I could see was black smoke, flames, and fireballs.”
He lost nearly everything — all his possessions except for his truck and the clothes he was wearing. “You think about that thing a thousand times…what would happen if a plane crashes, but you don’t think it will ever really happen,” he told WLKY. “But then it happened.”
Sanders also mourns the loss of friends who were killed in the crash. “Three of my friends are gone,” he said.
As he grieves, his community is stepping up to help. A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Sanders’ recovery efforts.
“My mom’s boyfriend, Rob, has lost everything today in the UPS plane crash besides his life and the clothes on his back,” wrote organizer Sam Aubrey. “He is lucky to have made it out moments before the jet-fuel-fueled fire engulfed his home.”
As of Friday, Nov. 7, the fundraiser has raised over $20,000, and Aubrey shared that Sanders was overwhelmed by the generosity. “He is at a loss for words that people would help so much,” the organizer wrote.
The NTSB continues to investigate the cause of the crash. On Thursday, Nov. 6, residents gathered at a vigil to honor the victims.
“We pray for the victims and their families, for the 13 lives lost, for those still unaccounted for, and for the survivors who carry the weight of this tragedy,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg said in a Facebook post. “May the memory of the 13 individuals we have lost be a blessing. In the days and weeks ahead, may we continue to draw strength from one another — for the families and for our entire city.”
