All 14 victims of Tuesday afternoon’s horrific UPS plane crash in Louisville, Kentucky, have now been named by authorities.
Three flight crew members, a local business owner, and a grandfather and his granddaughter who were “in the wrong place, at the wrong time” were among the dead following the November 4 crash, the deadliest in the company’s history.
The victims include were named as Captain Dana Diamond, 62; Captain Richard Wartenberg, 57; First Officer Lee Truitt, 45; Angela Anderson, 45; Carlos Fernandez, 52; Trinadette Chavez, 37; Tony Crain, 65; John Loucks, 52; John Spray, 45; Matthew Sweets, 37; Ella Petty Whorton, 31; Megan Washburn, 35; Louisnes Fedon, 47; and his 3-year-old granddaughter Kimberly Asa.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said at a press conference identifying the victims that there are not believed to be any other victims of the shocking incident at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.
"Our city feels the full weight of this unimaginable tragedy,” Greenberg said, per NBC News. “Behind every one of these names is a circle of family, friends, stories that will forever be unfinished."
Footage capturing the crash and subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration determined that the plane's left engine detached from the aircraft during takeoff. Afterward, the plane crashed back into the ground, tearing a hole through the roof of a UPS warehouse before exploding in a fireball at the airport.
The airport was closed on the night of the crash, but reopened the following morning while search and recovery crews combed the debris for any sign of human remains.
The plane was carrying 38,000 gallons of fuel and hit two buildings, including a petroleum recycling facility, causing some containers filled with oil to explode at the site.
According to a family friend, Fedon and his 3-year-old granddaughter were killed during the crash. Speaking to ABC News, the friend said that Fedon was “simply an angel on earth,” who helped raise a “whole village” by collecting metal at a junkyard near the airfield to sell.
According to a GoFundMe campaign created by Jason and Brandi Mattingly, family friends of Fedon, he and his unnamed granddaughter were “simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, becoming victims of this catastrophic and unforeseen accident.”
“His death has created a sudden and immense void that goes far beyond emotional grief,” Jason and Brandi Mattingly wrote.
The campaign was launched to raise money for Lousines’s children, Shanya and Sheldon, as well as his wife, Sharon, since the grandfather supported the family financially.
In a post on Facebook, Michelle Sweets named her brother, Matthew Sweets, as one of those who died. “It is with the heaviest heart, I regret to inform all of you that he passed away this afternoon after fighting his hardest in the ICU,” she wrote.
A GoFundMe page has been established to support Sweets’ family. At the time of writing, the profile has raised $113,000, which is $103,000 more than the page’s stated goal of $10,000.
“The outpour of love and concern from our community has been truly touching. We’ll share information about arrangements in the next day or two. For now, please keep his girlfriend Brooke and his two young children in your prayers as well as the rest of us,” Michelle Sweets wrote on Facebook.
Diamond, Wartenberg and Truitt, were previously named in a statement from UPS.
"It is with great sorrow that we share the names of the UPS pilots on board UPS Flight 2976. Captain Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt, and International Relief Officer Captain Dana Diamond were operating the flight," UPS said in its statement.
The post said the company's "hearts go out to every UPSer who has been impacted and all in our Louisville community — supporting you and ensuring you receive the care and resources you need is our priority."
Truitt's LinkedIn revealed that he had been flying with UPS since 2021, and had previously worked as an airline captain at SkyWest Airlines and as a flight instructor in New Mexico.
UPS reopened its Worldport facility — the company's largest aviation hub — the day after the accident, according to company spokesman Jim Mayer.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg visited the crash site and described the scene as "horrific," with "charred, mangled metal" strewn about the impact area.
“You hear people say, ‘Oh, you only see that in the movies.’ This was worse than the movies,” Greenberg told reporters.
A public vigil for those killed was organized by Teamsters Local 89, which represents UPS workers. Greenberg encouraged members of the public to attend the event to "share our heartbreak" and "find strength to keep moving forward."
Investigators located the flight recorders — also known as black boxes — from the crash site. On Thursday, the NTSB announced that it was able to extract 63 hours worth of "good data points" from the box covering 24 flights made by the MD-11 aircraft, including its final flight.
