One person has died and three people have been injured after a cargo jet crashed in Lithuania, according to reports.
In the early hours of Monday, Nov. 25, a Swiftair Boeing 737-400 operating on behalf of DHL “crashed in a residential area short of the runway while attempting to land in Vilnius” after departing from Leipzig, Germany, live air traffic site Flightradar24 said on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The Associated Press reported the aircraft crashed at 5:30 a.m. local time, citing Ramūnas Matonis, the head of communications for the Lithuanian police.
According to the news agency, the plane “skidded into a house,” resulting in the death of a Spanish crew member. Three additional crew members — from Spain, Germany and Lithuania — were injured in the incident, per the outlet.
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Lithuania’s Prime Minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, held a meeting following the crash, and said there had been no victims in the residential area where the plane hit. According to local newspaper Lithuanian East12 residents were evacuated from a two-story house.
“The most important thing is that despite the fact that the incident happened in a residential area, victims of people living there were avoided,” the prime minister said in a translated message on the Government of the Republic of Lithuania’s website.
Firefighters managed to free two pilots, the AP reported, citing General Commissioner of the Lithuanian Police, Arūnas Paulauskas. The outlet said one of the two freed from the cockpit “was more seriously injured.”
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Fire and Rescue Department chief, Renatas Požėla, said of the crash, “Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people,” per the AP.
PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty
Per Reuters, DHL has reportedly launched an investigation into the crash. “The aircraft contained regular parcels. We do not have any information that any of them were suspicious,” a spokesperson told the outlet.
The country’s prime minister, Šimonytė, added of the incident on Monday, “Vilnius City Municipality takes care of people, we will help it as much as it is needed. The services are doing their job. I strongly request you to trust the abilities of the investigating authorities to conduct the investigation professionally and within the optimal time.”
“Only these investigations will answer the questions about the real causes of the incident, speculations and conjectures will not really help to determine the truth,” Šimonytė said.
PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP via Getty
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“Flight operations are continuing in Vilnius while authorities respond to the crash,” Flightradar24 said on X, adding that the aircraft was 31 years old.
Per the AP, the “weather at the airport was around freezing at the time of the crash” and winds had been around 18 mph.
Swiftair, DHL and the Lithuanian police and fire department didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.
