UPS cargo plane crashes in Dubai, killing two
ASTANA. September 4. KAZINFORM A cargo plane has crashed at an air force base shortly after take-off from Dubai airport, killing two crew members on board, officials say. Kazinform refers to BBC.
There were no injuries on the ground and commercial air traffic was not affected, they added.
The plane was a Boeing 747 belonging to US company United Parcel Service (UPS).
A UAE official told local media the plane was diverted to the base after reporting trouble. It hit a covered car park then bounced and crashed, he said.
Some reports said a fire had broken out in the plane just after it took off from Dubai international airport.
"I saw the explosion from my balcony and felt the blast," said Tony Meechan, a British expatriate living in Silicon Oasis, a technology park on the Emirates Road.
The plane was on its way to the company's European hub in Cologne, a spokeswoman for UPS said.
Initial reports from al-Arabiya television said the plane had hit the busy Emirates Road motorway, but later reports indicated it had not.
The United Arab Emirates civil aviation authority said the bodies of the two crew members were recovered.
UPS, the world's largest courier service, said it would "do everything" to find the cause of the crash.
The company was subsequently barred from operating in the Emirates. Kazinform cites BBC. See www.bbc.co.uk for full version