At 05:30 on Monday morning, a plane crashed in Liatuen near Vilnius airport. The plane flew from Leipzig in Germany and is said to have been a cargo plane from the transport and logistics company DHL, which was flown by Spanish Swiftair.
On board were four crewmen, at least one of whom, a Spanish citizen, died. Another member of the crew is said to be seriously injured.
Probably an accident
During the day, there has been speculation whether the crash could have been a terrorist attack, but Lithuania’s Minister of Defense Laurynas Kasciunas says that it is probably an accident. The head of the Latvian Civil Aviation Authority, Maris Gorodcovs, also comes to that conclusion.
– The last distance the plane flew is on film. There you see how the plane sinks and that the pilot tries to steer the plane up – to avoid a crash, which means that the pilot is still in control, says Maris Gorodcovs.
The crash caused large fires, but the fire should not have been in the cockpit where the crew sat. That’s what a paramedic says on site to the Lithuanian public service company LRT.
Police in Lithuania tell LRT that their assessment is that the plane attempted to make a normal landing. The police chief also tells LRT that they have spoken to one of the crew who says that there should have been no signs of smoke or fire in the plane.
Spain and Germany send investigators
Lithuania has started its own preliminary investigation into the incident, but now Spain and Germany are also sending investigators to understand what has happened.
The plane was a Boeing model and must have been manufactured in the USA. American authorities are therefore also notified of the incident.