A DHL cargo plane crashed near Vilnius airport in the early hours of Monday, killing one crew member and injuring three others. The Boeing 737-400, operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, was on its final approach when it went down near a residential area around 5:30 a.m. local time.
WATCH:
🚨 #BREAKING . Press conference on the DHL cargo plane crash in Vilnius (Lithuania)
The plane was a Swiftair 737-400 with four crew members on board (the status of the entire crew has not yet been officially confirmed).
“The plane went down a few kilometers before the… pic.twitter.com/P4O4Iw0L7m
— United Alerts (@unitedalerts) November 25, 2024
The aircraft had left Leipzig Airport in Germany at 3:00 a.m. and made an alleged attempted emergency landing before the crash. According to Lithuanian authorities, the plane skidded some hundreds of meters, with wreckage striking a two-story house. The building caught fire, but all 12 residents were evacuated.
Police identified the body as one of four crewmen on board. The remaining three – from Lithuania, Germany, and Spain – were taken to hospital. The wounded are two pilots and a passenger.
The cause of the crash is under investigation, said authorities, which so far has ruled out sabotage or terrorism. “It could be either a technical failure or human error,” Renatas Pozela, a senior police official, said.
The Associated Press said the weather conditions were nearly 0°C temperatures, moderate winds, and cloudy skies at the time of the crash.
Firefighters doused the flames by 7:30 am. Separate crash probes have been initiated by Lithuania’s National Aviation Authority, DHL and Swiftair.
The 31-year-old aircraft received extensive damage, with blackened ruins all over the area where it crashed. According to the authorities, no distress signals were heard from pilots in air traffic control recordings prior to the crash.
ALSO READ: COP29 Ends with Climate Finance Deal Amidst Global South’s Discontent
