1 dead, 3 injured when DHL cargo plane crashes into house near Lithuania airport – News

A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house early Monday morning as it approached to land at Lithuania’s Vilnius airport, killing one person and injuring three others, officials said.

The flight was operated by airline SWIFT on behalf of DHL and had taken off from Leipzig, Germany, before the plane crashed at around 3:30 a.m. GMT, a spokesman for the government’s National Crisis Management Center said.

According to the spokesperson, there is nothing to indicate that an explosion preceded the crash.

“At this time we have no record that an explosion has occurred,” he said.

An airport spokesman said the plane was a Boeing 737-400. Police told a news conference that 12 people had been evacuated from the house hit by the plane.

Rescuers said the plane hit the ground and slid at least 100 meters before crashing into the building.

The head of the national crisis management center said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

Firefighters were seen pouring water on a smoking building about 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) north of the airport runway at 0530 GMT. A large police and ambulance presence was seen in the area and several nearby main streets were cordoned off.