Authorities in this Baltic country are investigating alleged acts of planting incendiary devices on cargo planes while refraining from establishing a link between the accident and ongoing investigations.
Lithuania's Justice Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the flight recorders were “recovered from the wreckage of the plane” around 11:30 a.m. local time. Analysis of the data could provide crucial clues about the causes of the crash in which the plane hit an apartment building about a kilometer from the airport.
The ministry also said that German officials had arrived in Lithuania to take part in the investigation. The authorities are also awaiting the arrival of experts from the United States and Spain.
No explosive charge
According to the head of the national police, Arunas Paulauskas, the investigation at the scene of the accident could take two or three days. Lithuania has opened a criminal investigation into the accident, as Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte urged people not to “jump to conclusions” while the investigation is ongoing.
“We must now seriously ask ourselves whether this is an accident or another hybrid incident,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday.
