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The Cuban Alain Rodríguez Colina died on Christmas Day due to severe burns sustained in a UPS cargo plane accident that occurred on November 4 in Louisville, Kentucky, bringing the total number of fatalities to 15.
Rodríguez, a Cuban immigrant residing in the United States, was working at a scrap yard near Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport when a UPS cargo plane, loaded with fuel and heading to Hawaii, crashed shortly after takeoff, causing a massive explosion.
Kentucky authorities confirmed that the Cuban remained hospitalized for more than seven weeks with burns covering more than 50% of his body, according to a report from the AP agency reproduced by the newspaper Gulf Coast News.
Despite reporting signs of improvement in recent days, his health deteriorated, and he passed away on December 25 without regaining consciousness.
Rodríguez had been working at Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling since 2023, one of the facilities affected by the incident.
According to his employers, he had quickly risen through the ranks and had built a new life in Louisville, where his mother and siblings also lived, while his daughter remained in Cuba.
The accident occurred when the UPS McDonnell Douglas MD-11 lost one of its engines during takeoff, resulting in a massive fire upon landing in an industrial area.
In the accident, the three crew members of the aircraft and several people on the ground died.
According to the newspaper , preliminary investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board indicated structural failures and signs of fatigue in the components supporting the engine.
Following the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the immobilization of all MD-11 aircraft used for cargo.
The death of the Cuban occurs amid lawsuits against UPS and the engine manufacturer, although Rodríguez Colina's case is not included in those litigations.
Federal authorities are continuing the investigation to determine responsibilities in what is already considered the deadliest disaster in the history of the cargo airline.
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