A United Parcel Service cargo plane crashed during its landing approach at the Birmingham, Ala., airport on Wednesday morning, the authorities said.

The accident occurred about 6 a.m., as U.P.S. Flight 1354, which was en route from Louisville, Ky., made its descent toward Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, about five miles northeast of downtown Birmingham, said Kathleen Bergen, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration. U.P.S. has confirmed there were two crew members onboard, but it was not immediately clear if there were fatalities.

The plane, an Airbus A300, a wide-body aircraft that is commonly used by air cargo companies for medium-range flights, went down about half a mile from a runway at the airport, officials said.

Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board are heading to the crash site and will seek to determine a cause for the accident, Ms. Bergen said.

Toni Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority, said the plane crashed in an area outside the perimeter of the airport and that the accident had not affected airport operations.

In a statement released Wednesday morning, U.P.S. said it was still gathering information about the crash and did not know the status of the company’s pilots.

"This incident is very unfortunate, and our thoughts and prayers are with those involved," Mitch Nichols, the company's president said in a statement.