A tragic incident unfolded on Christmas Day as a worker from a Kentucky scrapyard succumbed to severe burns sustained in a UPS cargo plane crash last month.
Alain Rodriguez Colina was tragically caught on the ground when the aircraft, fully loaded with fuel destined for Hawaii, crashed into several businesses shortly after taking off from Louisville’s airport, resulting in an explosive fireball.
The disaster occurred on November 4 when the plane’s left engine detached during takeoff, leading to the demise of three pilots and several others. The National Transportation Safety Board later discovered cracks where the engine was attached to the wing. Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport hosts the primary UPS package delivery hub.
Both Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg announced Colina’s passing on social media.
Mayor Greenberg expressed, “May Alain’s memory be a blessing,” while Governor Beshear urged people to keep Colina’s family and everyone affected by this tragedy in their thoughts and prayers.
Colina was employed at Grade A Recycling, the site struck by UPS Flight 2976 on that fateful November day.
Grade A Recycling CEO Sean Garber told local ABC affiliate WCVB that Colina escaped the crash with burns covering over half of his body.
Doctors had given his family a bleak prognosis. Colina was put in an induced coma and never regained consciousness.
He was visited often by family members, Garber added. Colina’s mother and siblings lived in the area, and his daughter lived in Cuba.
Alain Rodriguez Colina was identified as the 15th victim killed in a plane crash involving a UPS aircraft on November 4
The crash claimed the lives of three crew members and 12 people on the ground, including three employees at Grade A Recycling
Garber said Colina’s family remained optimistic, but his health took a turn on Thursday.
Colina was the third employee killed in the crash. Garber told local NBC affiliate, WAVE, that the team honored those lost, including eight customers, with wreaths on a fence outside their workplace.
‘Everyone of us really hoped to keep Lon’s name off of that fence, to keep that wreath down,’ he said.
Colina immigrated to the US from Cuba, where he worked as a schoolteacher. His managers said he joined the company in 2023 and quickly rose through the ranks.
‘He was one of a kind, one of those people that you meet very few and far between in life, full of life, full of enthusiasm, full of dreams, loved his country, he always had great story to tell me about his culture,’ one of his managers, Manuel Leos, said in a statement.
The plane crashed shortly after taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport and crashed into a nearby recycling center
Colina’s death marks the latest tragedy caused by the devastating plane crash.
The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report in November that revealed the wing had separated from the plane on the runway at Muhammad Ali International Airport.
The part holding the engine in place then cracked, which ignited the fire. The plane only reached 30 feet before crashing into the recycling facility.
Captain Dana Diamond, 62, Captain Richard Wartenberg, 57, and First Officer Lee Truitt, 45, were aboard the plane and died in the crash.
The youngest victim on the ground was a three-year-old girl named Kimberly Asa. She was with her grandfather, Louisnes Fedon, 47, who was also killed.
A preliminary report from the NTSB said the wing of the plane separated on the runway and crashed after only reaching 30 feet
The crash resulted in a massive fire on the ground. As a result of the tragedy, the FAA placed a temporary ban on MD-11s, aircraft exclusively used for cargo transport
As a result of the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a temporary ban on MD-11s, aircraft used exclusively for cargo transport.
Two wrongful deaths were filed against UPS and General Electric, which manufactured the plane’s engine.
The lawsuits allege UPS flew older aircraft without proper maintenance checks. Neither UPS nor GE has responded to the suits.
MD-11s make up about 9 percent of the UPS fleet and 4 percent of the FedEx fleet, CNN previously reported.
