An Airbus A300 cargo plane belonging to the United Parcel Service crashed near an airport in Birmingham, Ala., killing both members of the crew on Wednesday morning, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The flight had originated in Louisville, Ky., and was on its landing approach into Birmingham dealing with rain and low clouds shortly after 6 a.m. The plane crashed about a half mile away from the runway at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, according to the New York Times.
The plane erupted in flames shortly after crashing. Thankfully the plane crashed in a sparsely populated area and no one on the ground was hurt.
"I can confirm they were killed in the crash," Birmingham Mayor William Bell said of the pilot and co-pilot. "It was quite a large fire and there were two to three explosions after the plane caught fire, after the crash itself."
A statement from Airbus, the manufacturer of the plane, was released on Wednesday.
"All our efforts are going towards assessing the situation in Alabama," the statement read. "We will provide further information as soon as available."
The National Transportation Safety Board announced that they are sending a team to investigate the possible causes of the crash, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"This incident is very unfortunate, and our thoughts and prayers are with those involved," UPS Airlines President Mitch Nichols said in a statement. "We place the utmost value on the safety of our employees, our customers and the public. We will immediately engage with the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation, and we will work exhaustively on response efforts."
Plane crashes are extremely rare for the package delivery service that delivers over 15 million packages a day. The first fatal crash in the company's history happened in 2010 when a Boeing 747 crashed near Dubai killing both of the pilots. That crash was also followed by an out of control fire caused by the lithium batteries that were being shipped, according to the Wall Street Journal.