Germany Cargo plane on DHL order crashes in Lithuania

A cargo plane that took off from Leipzig on behalf of the postal service provider DHL crashed early this morning near the airport in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. At least one person was killed, according to police and rescue services. The crashing plane narrowly missed a residential building with sleeping people. Numerous rescue workers were deployed.

The emergency services were informed of the crash at 5.28 a.m. local time. According to initial reports, four people were on the plane. One person was dead and three others were injured and taken to hospital.

The cargo plane that crashed was operated by the Spanish airline Swift Air, according to DHL. Swift Air was working under contract for DHL. The crew had to initiate an emergency landing about one kilometer from Vilnius airport. The "status" of the crew is still being clarified, DHL explained - "but our thoughts are with them and their loved ones".

According to the head of sales and marketing at DHL Lithuania, the plane was a Boeing 737 and was transporting parcels for customers, she told the BNS news agency. Pictures of the accident site showed scattered parcels and broken boxes. The plane was completely destroyed, a spokeswoman for the Lithuanian rescue service told the Elta news agency.

What caused the accident?

According to the Lithuanian police chief, the search for the cause of the crash will take some time. Inspecting the scene, gathering evidence and collecting information and objects could take a whole week. "These answers will not come so quickly," said Arunas Paulauskas at a press conference.

The plane tried to land and did not reach the runway, Paulauskas said. The crash was "most likely due to a technical error or human error". At the same time, when asked whether it could also have been a terrorist attack, he said that such a scenario could not be ruled out. "This is one of the versions of the crash that needs to be investigated and verified. There is still a lot of work ahead of us."

The head of the Lithuanian rescue service, Renatas Pozela, said that the cargo plane crashed a few kilometers from the airport, skidded several hundred meters and its debris hit a residential house. The house had two floors and four apartments. Three families lived there. All twelve residents were safe.

"All red and full of sparks"

A woman who lives near the affected house reported on Lithuanian radio that she had been woken up early in the morning by a noise: "I heard a noise in my sleep, I looked out of the window - everything was red and full of sparks". She immediately ran to see if anyone needed help. She was in shock: "It was terrible, terrible".

A neighbor said that he had seen a flash of light in the yard in the early morning: "There was a flash. I didn't see the impact itself, but the flash was very bright, it lit up the whole yard, and it was about a kilometer away from me. And then the fire appeared and there was a lot of smoke."

German security authorities warned

According to Lithuanian media, the head of the Lithuanian intelligence service, Darius Jauniskis, said: "At this stage, as far as we know, it is probably too early to link the incident to anything or give it any attribution." There was no preliminary information available. However, he also said that the possibility of terrorism could not be ruled out. Jauniskis also assured that they were also working together with foreign partners. At the end of August, it became known that German security authorities were warning of "unconventional incendiary devices" being sent by unknown persons via freight service providers. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) sent out a corresponding warning to companies in the aviation and logistics sector.

The warning was linked in security circles to an incident at the DHL logistics center in Leipzig, which acts as the company's global hub. In July, a parcel sent from the Baltic States containing an incendiary device is said to have caught fire there.

The word Russia did not appear in the warning from the BfV and BKA. Nevertheless, security circles are not ruling out a connection with the increasing cases of Russian sabotage in Germany.

SDA