One person is dead after a DHL cargo plane crashed and skidded into a house as it was approaching an airport in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius.
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According to the New York Post, the incident occurred on Monday, Nov. 25. The person killed was identified as being a Spanish crew member. Surveillance video caught the plane descending normally, approaching the airport’s runway just before sunrise. However, the aircraft was quickly engulfed in flames behind a nearby building.
The plane has been traveling from Leipzig, Germany at the time of the crash. It had been carrying four people.
Miraculously, no one was harmed on the ground.
The crash is currently being investigated. Ramūnas Matonis, the head of communications for Lithuanian police confirmed that the three other crew members onboard the aircraft were injured.
The DHL plane was operated by Spanish contractor Swiftair. In an email, DHL stated the aircraft had “made a forced landing” about half a mile from the airport. “The cause of the accident is still unknown and an investigation is already underway.”
Renatas Požėla, Chief of the Fire and Rescue Department, shared that the residential infrastructure around the house hit by the plane was on fire. The house was only “slightly damaged” otherwise. “We managed to evacuate people,” Požėla revealed.
It was further reported that the Lithuania plane crash occurred around the same time as Western security officials suspected Russian intelligence was carrying out sabotage attempts. This is notably a form of retaliation to countries supporting Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia.
Among the tactics used in the sabotage attempts are arson attacks, disinformation, and incendiary devices being placed in packages onboard cargo planes.
Lithuanian Officials Don’t Rule Terrorism Amid Plane Crash Investigation
Following the plane crash in Vilnius, Lithuanian officials spoke out, stating they are not ruling out terrorism.
They did stress that there is currently no evidence that terrorists were involved.
“Without a doubt, we cannot rule out the terrorism version,” said the chief of Lithuanian intelligence, Darius Jauniškis. “We see Russia becoming more aggressive. But for now, we really cannot make any attributions or point fingers at anyone, because there is no information about it.”
Lithuania Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė also spoke out about the incident. “Thankfully, despite the crash occurring in a residential area, no lives have been lost among the local population,”
Meanwhile, the German Transporation Ministry stated that German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation experts are heading to Lithuania to help with the investigation. They also cautioned against making assumptions as to what caused the crash.
“No statements can yet be made about the cause of the accident,” German Interior Ministry spokesperson, Mehmet Atta, also explained. “Whether it was an accident or whether another cause led to the crash of the cargo plane is the subject of the current investigation.”