DHL cargo plane crashes near Vilnius airport, Lithuania; 1 person dead, three injured

A DHL cargo plane operated by Madrid-based Swiftair crashed near Vilnius airport in Lithuania early Monday morning (November 25), killing a Spanish crew member and injuring three others. The cause of the crash is under investigation.

Details of the failure

A Boeing 737 flying from Leipzig, Germany, crashed at 5:30 a.m. local time while approaching the airport. According to Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, the plane skidded and hit a house in a residential area, but no local residents were injured.

Surveillance footage captured the plane descending normally before bursting into a ball of fire upon impact, although the exact moment of the crash was unclear. Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed the plane turned north of the airport as it prepared to land, but crashed about a mile short of the runway.

Victims and reaction

The head of communications of the Lithuanian police, Ramūnas Matonis, confirmed that of the four crew members on board, one – a Spanish citizen – died. The other three crew members, identified as Spanish, German and Lithuanian nationals, suffered injuries. According to Police Commissioner Arūnas Paulauskas, firefighters freed two pilots from the cockpit, one of whom is in a serious condition.

Fire and rescue services chief Renatas Požėla said the crash caused a fire in the area, although the house the plane hit suffered only minor damage and its inhabitants were safely evacuated.

Investigation ongoing

Officials are investigating several possible causes, including technical failure, human error and the possibility of a terrorist act. Prime Minister Šimonytė, however, appealed for patience, stating: “Speculations and guesswork will not help determine the truth.”

Weather conditions at the time of the crash included freezing temperatures, overcast skies and winds of approximately 30 km/h (18 mph). The plane, a 31-year-old Boeing 737, was considered older but not unusual for cargo operations.

Eyewitness accounts

An eyewitness, identified only as Svaja, described seeing a ball of fire and initially fearing a global conflict would break out. “My first thought is that the world (war) has started and it’s time to grab the documents and run somewhere to a shelter, a basement,” she told local media.

The DHL plane was performing a routine cargo flight to the capital of Lithuania, a key logistics hub in the Baltic region. Neither DHL nor Swiftair issued a statement on the incident.

Further details are awaited as investigators work to determine the exact cause of the crash.

(With AP inputs)