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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A grandfather and his young granddaughter. An electrician with two young children. A woman standing in line at a scrap metal business.
They were among the 14 people who died in the fiery crash of a UPS plane in Louisville last week. Their names were released Wednesday as Mayor Craig Greenberg lamented the lives that will “forever be unfinished.”
“As we share the names of those who we‘ve lost, our city feels the full weight of this unimaginable tragedy,” Greenberg said at a news conference. “Behind every one of these names is a circle of family, friends, stories that will forever be unfinished.”
Eight days after the plane plowed into the ground in a massive fireball, the local coroner’s office said it completed the grim tasks of recovering victims’ remains, identifying them and notifying their loved ones. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board remain at the crash siteGreenberg said.
Victims included three pilots on board when the crash happened during takeoff at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub located at Muhammad Ali International Airport. They were Capt. Richard Wartenberg, First Officer Lee Truitt and International Relief Officer Capt. Dana Diamond.
Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from eyewitnesses and security cameras has given investigators evidence of what happened from many different angles.
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Authorities believe that all the victims have been located and identified, Greenberg said Wednesday.
John Spray, 45, was killed at Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling when the plane crashed into the business. The mother of his child, Tifany Torok, said in a GoFundMe account for Spray’s daughter that he “was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The family of Louisnes Fedon, 47, said “his death has created a sudden and immense void that goes far beyond emotional grief”; a GoFundMe was set up by a friend of Fedon’s children. Like Spray, relatives say Fedon and his 3-year-old granddaughter, Kimberly Asa, were in the wrong place at the wrong time when the plane crashed to the ground just off the runway.
Matthew Sweets, 37, was severely burned and died days later. He worked as an electrician and had two young children, Cohen and Rayne, according to his obituary.
Another victim, Ella Petty Whorton, 31, was at the recycling business when the crash occurred. Her boyfriend, Eric Richardson, said they worked together collecting scrap metal to help make a living. They had been a couple for more than a year after being introduced by a mutual friend.
“She was a great person,” Richardson said this week by phone. “Everybody loved her. I miss her so much.”
Others killed in the crash were Angela Anderson, 45; Carlos Fernandez, 52; Trinadette Chavez, 37; Tony Crain, 65; John Loucks, 52; and Megan Washburn, 35. Officials haven’t publicly shared details about them, including where they were when the plane crashed.
Greenberg credited the coroner’s office for “working tirelessly, under incredibly challenging conditions,” to recover the victims’ remains, identify them and notify the families.
“I had a family member ask me yesterday, ‘how do you ever get used to this?’ And I said, ‘I don’t,” Jefferson County Coroner Jo-Ann Farmer. “If I get used to this and it doesn’t bother me anymore, I’m in the wrong profession.”
