CBS News/ August 14, 2013, 8:21 AM
Large cargo plane crashes in Birmingham, Ala.
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Updated at 8:21 a.m. ET
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. A large UPS cargo plane crashed early Wednesday near an airport in Birmingham, Ala.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to CBS News that the A300 plane crashed on approach to the airport at about 6 a.m. ET.
Witnesses said there have been as many as five explosions in the hour since the crash-landing. There has been no word on deaths or injuries.
Rick Jackson of CBS Birmingham affiliate WIAT-TV reported on "CBS This Morning" on the phone from near the crash site that the plane split in half from the impact.
The plane was en route from Louisville, Ky., to Birmingham as UPS Flight 1354, the agency said in the statement.
Toni Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority, said the cargo plane crashed near Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. Bast said the crash site is outside the airport's perimeter fence and has not affected airport operations.
Neither the FAA nor Bast had any information on injuries.
A residential area is two blocks away from the crash site, Jackson reported. A resident walking his dog told Jackson that he was "blessed" that the plane didn't crash in the neighborhood.
A photo from the news site al.com showed a plume of smoke rising from the site in an open field. Several fire trucks and other emergency vehicles were lined up on a narrow road nearby.
Atlanta-based UPS said in a statement to CBS News that it had been "notified of an incident involving one of our aircraft near Birmingham."
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