A DHL cargo plane crashed near Vilnius airport in Lithuania on Monday. One occupant of the aircraft died and three others were injured. According to Germany, there are no indications of sabotage for the time being, but nothing has been ruled out.
The Boeing 737-400 crashed on Monday morning around 4:30 am while approaching for landing, in cloudy conditions. The plane then crashed into a two-story house about 100 yards away, which then caught fire. A surveillance camera filmed how the aircraft lost altitude, followed by a large fireball.
One of the four occupants, a pilot with Spanish nationality, has died. The three other passengers: a Spaniard, a German and a Lithuanian, were injured. They were taken to hospital, their condition is still unclear. Twelve people were evacuated from the home, but there were no casualties.
At a press conference, the national crisis center was unable to provide clarity about the cause. For the time being, there are no indications that there was an explosion on board the plane.
© reuters
No bomb
“So far there is no indication of sabotage or an act of terror,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said. The crash was “most likely due to a technical or human error,” said police spokesman Arūnas Paulauskas, but has not yet completely ruled out a terrorist act. “That is one of the avenues we are investigating. I think the crime scene inspection and evidence collection could take all week. Answers will not come quickly.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also reported on Monday evening that his services have no evidence that there was a bomb on the DHL plane. Nevertheless, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that the search is underway “in all directions”. She pointed to the various “hybrid attacks” that have recently taken place in Europe. “The fact that we now have to seriously ask ourselves whether this was an accident or yet another hybrid incident shows the uncertain times we are currently living in, even in the middle of Europe.”
At the end of August, German security services warned of the shipment of “unconventional incendiary devices” by unknown persons via freight transport. The warning is said to be linked to an incident at DHL’s logistics center in Leipzig, a global hub for the transport company. A package then caught fire. The Germans and the Lithuanian government later accused Russia of the sabotage that almost led to a plane crash. The German government has already announced that it will launch its own investigation into Sunday’s crash.
Brussel
The crashed cargo plane is an aircraft from the Spanish company Swiftair that flew on behalf of DHL. Flight data shows that the aircraft also regularly had Brussels Airport as its destination.
