DHL cargo plane crashes and slides into a house in Lithuania, killing a Spanish crew member

VILNIUS, Lithuania — A DHL cargo plane crashed on approach to an airport in Lithuania’s capital and skidded into a house Monday morning, killing a Spanish crew member but injuring no one on the ground. The cause is being investigated.

Surveillance video showed the plane descending normally as it approached the airport before dawn, then exploding in a huge fireball behind a building. The moment of impact was not visible in the video.

Lithuanian officials acknowledged that one line of inquiry will be whether Russia played a role given its suspected involvement in other cases of sabotage – although they stressed there is no evidence yet to suggest that.

“Without any doubt, we cannot rule out the terrorist version,” said Darius Jauniškis, head of Lithuanian intelligence.

Western security officials suspect that Russian intelligence services are carrying out sabotage against their nations in retaliation for their support of Ukraine – including arson, disinformation and by placing incendiary devices in cargo plane packages. In July, one caught fire at a courier center in Germany and another at a warehouse in England.

Polish prosecutors said last month that packages containing camouflaged explosives were sent via freight companies to EU countries and Britain to “test the transmission channel for such packages” eventually destined for the US and Canada.

“We see that Russia is becoming more aggressive,” Jauniškis said. “But for now, we really can’t make any attributions or point to anyone because there’s no information about it.”

The Lithuanian Airport Authority identified the plane as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany, a major cargo hub, and one of the injured was a German citizen.

The German Transport Ministry said experts from Germany’s Federal Office for Aircraft Accident Investigation would be sent to Lithuania to help with the investigation. Officials there also cautioned against drawing conclusions before examining all the evidence.

“No statements can yet be made about the cause of the accident. Whether it was an accident or whether some other cause led to the crash of the cargo plane is the subject of the current investigation,” German Interior Ministry spokesman Mehmet Atta said at a briefing in Berlin.

The head of the Lithuanian fire brigade said the plane skidded several hundred meters, and photos showed smoke rising from a damaged structure in an area of ​​bare trees.

“Despite the crash in a residential area, fortunately no lives were lost among the local population,” Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said after meeting with rescue officials.

Rescuers closed off the area and fragments of the plane in DHL’s signature yellow could be seen among the wreckage scattered around the crash site.

The cargo plane was carrying four people when it crashed at 5:30 am local time. One person, a Spanish national, was declared dead and the other three crew members – Spanish, German and Lithuanian nationals – were injured, Ramūnas Matonis, head of communications for the Lithuanian police, said in an email.

The DHL plane was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. DHL said in an emailed comment that the plane “made an emergency landing” about half a mile from Vilnius airport, adding: “The cause of the accident is still unknown and an investigation is already underway .” Swiftair made no comment.

“The residential infrastructure around the house was on fire and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people,” said Renatas Požėla, head of the Fire and Rescue Department.

One eyewitness, who gave her name only as Svaja, ran to a window when a light as bright as a red sun filled her room and she heard an explosion, followed by flashes and black smoke.

“I saw a fireball,” she said. “My first thought is that a world war has started and it is time to grab the documents and run to a shelter somewhere, to a cellar.”

Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the Lithuanian defense minister, said: “There were absolutely no external factors that could have damaged the plane.”

“We can see that clearly,” Kasčiūnas said. “However, to find out what happened on the plane, it will be necessary to interview the surviving crew members. And of course the black box. That will take some time.”

Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 analyzed by the AP showed the plane making a turn north of the airport, lining up to land, before crashing just over a mile short of the runway.

The weather at the airport was near freezing at the time of the crash, with pre-dawn clouds and wind speeds around 20 mph.

The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which experts consider an older airframe, although that is not unusual for cargo flights.

The Prime Minister warned against speculation and said investigators needed time to do their work.

“The responsible authorities are working diligently,” Šimonytė said. “I urge everyone to have confidence in the ability of the investigating authorities to conduct a thorough and professional investigation within an optimal time frame. Only these investigations will reveal the true causes of the incident – ​​speculation and guesswork will not help establish the truth.”

This story corrects the title of Renatas Požėla.

Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed.