The day after the crash of a DHL cargo plane near the city of Vilnius, the Lithuanian ministry announced on Tuesday that investigators had found the plane's black boxes. 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.
This accident, which killed a Spanish crew member, raised fears that the accident was linked to a recent series of acts of sabotage. Lithuanian authorities are investigating alleged acts of planting incendiary devices on cargo planes while refraining from establishing a link between the accident and ongoing investigations.
An open criminal investigation
The ministry also said that German officials had arrived in Lithuania to take part in the investigation, before experts from the United States and Spain joined them.
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. His Defense counterpart, Boris Pistorius, however, subsequently indicated that there was “no discovery” indicating the presence of an explosive charge on board the plane which could have caused the accident.
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