Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced that Alain Rodriguez Colina died early Christmas morning from injuries he sustained from the crash of UPS Flight 2976 on November 4
06:28, 26 Dec 2025
The 15th victim of the UPS plane crash that took place in early November has tragically passed away after nearly two months in hospital, announced Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Thursday night.
In a Facebook post, the mayor revealed that Alain Rodriguez Colina died early Christmas morning due to injuries he sustained from the crash.
Colina's death brings the total number of fatalities from the UPS Flight 2976 crash to 15. The disaster occurred on Nov. 4 when the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 plane, carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel, exploded shortly after taking off from Kentucky's Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville.
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Shortly afterwards, images and videos of the plane engulfed in flames began circulating on social media.
In the wake of the tragedy, hundreds of firefighters were dispatched to the area to tackle fires that broke out following the explosion. Local leaders also urged residents to report any debris they found to investigators, rather than moving it themselves, in an effort to piece together the cause of the deadly incident, reports the Mirror US.
The victims were identified as Alain Rodriguez Colina. Capt. Richard Wartenberg, 57; First Officer Lee Truitt, 45; and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond, 62, were previously identified by UPS as the three crew members aboard Flight 2976.
Eight days after the aircraft plummeted to the ground in a huge fireball, the local coroner's office confirmed it had finished the harrowing work of recovering victims' remains, identifying them and notifying their families.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are still working to establish what caused the fatal crash. The full investigation is expected to take roughly a year to complete.
Federal investigators released dramatic photos in late November of an engine breaking away from the ill-fated UPS cargo plane. A sequence of six images captured the rear of the engine beginning to separate before it flew up and over the wing as flames burst out.
The following image shows the wing consumed by fire as the burning engine soars above it. The final image shows the aircraft beginning to lift off.
The NTSB said the plane wasn't yet due for a detailed inspection of crucial engine mount components that had fractures. It still needed to complete nearly 7,000 more take-offs and landings.
It was last examined in October 2021. "It appears UPS was conducting this maintenance within the required time frame, but I'm sure the FAA is now going to ponder whether that time frame is adequate," former federal crash investigator Jeff Guzzetti told The Associated Press after reading the report. It remains unclear when the fractures began appearing on the 34 year old aircraft and whether they might have been overlooked during the previous examination.
Fellow aviation specialist John Cox characterised fatigue cracks as "normal wear and tear on an aircraft."
He explained that metal components, such as the engine mount which vibrates with each flight, will inevitably develop fractures over time. Cox emphasised it's simply a matter of determining inspection frequency and the necessary maintenance procedures.