A DHL cargo plane crashed near a residential complex close to Vilnius airport in Lithuania on Monday morning. The reason for the crash, in which at least one person died, remains unknown.
At least one person has died and three people were injured after the cargo plane crashed into a courtyard near a two-storey building that subsequently caught fire, several Lithuanian media, including public broadcaster LRT, reported. Earlier reports said the plane had crashed into a residential building, but later the head of the government crisis team told LRT that the cargo plane had in fact not crashed directly into the building.
A fire broke and 12 residents were evacuated. A spokesperson for the government crisis team said that all the building's residents survived the accident, meaning the casualties were on the plane.
The three injured people were taken to hospital, while the pilot was freed from the plane after regaining consciousness. Lithuanian news site Delfi reported that four people, two pilots and two employees, were thought to be on the plane.
A large number of emergency workers are attending the scene, around four kilometres from the airport of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. Footage from the accident site shows a large plume of smoke.
Possible terror attack
The aircraft took off from Leipzig in Germany, an airport representative said. The head of the Lithuanian DHL subsidiary confirmed to Lithuanian radio that the plane belonged to a contractor of the company.
In late August, German security services warned of "unconventional incendiary bombs" being sent by unknown persons via cargo transport. The warning was reportedly linked to an incident at DHL's logistics centre in Leipzig, a global hub for the company. In July, a package containing a flammable device from the Baltic states reportedly caught fire.
There is not yet any information about a link between the crash and possible sabotage. The cause of the crash is unknown.
The aircraft attempted to land but did not reach the runway, Police Chief Arunas Paulauskas said during a press conference on Monday morning. He added that the crash was "most likely due to a technical or human error", but a terrorist attack cannot be ruled out. He emphasised that this is one of the theories being investigated and verified.
The investigation of the crash site and the collection of evidence could take up to a week.
