Cargo plane crashes in Vilnius, one person Missing

A cargo plane flying from Leipzig in Germany crashed in Vilnius at around 05:30 on Monday, one of the four crew members onboard was killed.

“One crew member was found without any signs of life, two were rescued, they were taken to hospital,” said Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the country’s National Crisis Management Centre (NKVC). The authorities later updated the number of those onboard to four.

The pilot, a 48-year-old Spanish national, was killed in the crash, the police later confirmed to the Elta news agency. The other pilot, a 34-year-old Spanish national, a 55-year-old German national, and a 34-year-old Lithuanian national were injured in the crash. One person of those injured is in critical condition.According to Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas, the plane missed a residential house “by chance” and crashed in the courtyard, but the debris set the two-storey building on fire. “All the [13] residents of the house are safe and have been evacuated,” said Benkunskas.

The emergency services battled the blaze at the scene.

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The Boeing 737-476(SF) plane, operated by DHL’s Spanish contractor Swiftair, was flying from Germany’s Leipzig to Lithuania.

Earlier this year, two self-igniting parcels shipped from Lithuania via DHL caused fires in a logistics centre in the German city.

Mindaugas Pivoriūnas, CEO of DHL Lietuva, confirmed to LRT.lt that the plane belonged to the company’s contractor. He said the cause of the accident or the nature of the cargo was not yet clearAccording to Vitkauskas from NKVC, the cause of the crash is being investigated as being related to “technical issues”.

“In the current geopolitical context, we look at every incident differently than before, but I ask you to refrain from jumping to conclusions,” the outgoing prime minister, Ingrida Šimonytė, said in a statement on social media.

Vilnius Airport continues operating as usual, some flights have been delayed.Terrorism ‘cannot be ruled out’

The crash was “most likely due to a technical fault or a human error”, said Arūnas Paulauskas, head of the Lithuanian Police. “The plane was landing and failed to reach the runway, these are the facts.”

Paulauskas said terrorism “cannot be ruled out”.

“This is one of the versions of the crash, which will be investigated and checked. There is a lot of work ahead. The collection of evidence can take the whole week, there will not be quick answers,” said Paulauskas.

Lithuania’s intelligence agency, the State Security Department, also said it was too early to make conclusions about the cause of the incident.

“At this stage, based on what we know, it’s probably too early to link it to anything or make any attributions,” Darius Jauniškis, head of the agency, told reporters.

“We certainly see Russia becoming more aggressive and foreign partners have also talked about dangers and cases of sabotage or the threat of terrorism,” he said. “We cannot rule this out either.”

Lithuania’s Justice Ministry confirmed to the Baltic News Service it had opened a pre-trial investigation into the incident.

“This [probe] is mandatory under EU regulations,” Laurynas Naujokaitis from the ministry’s Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Division told BNS.

“While the pre-trial authorities are looking at who is guilty […], our focus is on preventing future accidents,” he said.

The probe could take “at least a year”, Naujokaitis added.Police investigators are now at the hospital, hoping to speak to the pilot, the authorities said.

“When the officers, who have already gone [to the hospital] talk to the surviving crew members, examine all the black boxes, it will become clear what happened inside the plane. Whether it was a technical error, pilot error, or something else,” said Lithuania’s outgoing defence minister, Laurynas Kasčiūnas.

So far, however, there was no indication that the incident was linked to sabotage.

“There are no signs or evidence suggesting this was sabotage or a terrorist act,” Kasčiūnas told reporters, adding that the initial investigation “could take about a week “.

“The officers say it could take that long, but I think we’ll have some clearer details in the coming days,” the minister said.

In a statement on social media, President Gitanas Nausėda said “we must be prepared for all situations.”

“We do not know what the conclusions of the investigation will be, but what is clear is that we will never panic or make decisions that are not based on facts. Let us trust the institutions and officers,” he added.DHL: ‘Emergency landing’

In a statement on Monday, DHL said the plane made an emergency landing.

“We can confirm that the Swiftair plane […] made an emergency landing around one kilometre from Vilnius Airport,” the company said. “There were four people onboard, the condition of the crew members is being clarified.”

Audio recordings released

A conversation between the pilots and Vilnius air traffic controllers appeared on social media. According to aviation expert Vidas Kaupelis, the pilots did not seem alarmed.

“Without going into details, it is possible to say that the pilots did not declare any danger, no problems. It was a routine communication, a simple descent,” said Kaupelis, who listened to the recording.

According to him, such conversations between pilots and air traffic controllers are usually available on Liveatc.net and are not confidential.