DHL’s plane crash in Lithuania has authorities scrambling for answers

The United States National Transportation Safety Board is leading a team of board investigators, including Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, who will travel to Lithuania to assist in the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, Transport and Accident’s investigation into the crash.

Lithuanian counterintelligence chief Darius Jauniskis told reporters: “We cannot dismiss the possibility of terrorism… But at the moment we cannot make any attributions or point fingers because we do not have such information.”

A senior European intelligence official added that nothing had been ruled out.

In a statement, DHL said the plane, which arrived from Leipzig, “made an emergency landing” about 1km from VNO airport and that the cause of the crash was still unknown.

Lithuanian officials, meanwhile, said there had been no signs of anything untoward from the pilots during radio contact with the plane.

“In the recording of the conversation between the pilots and the tower, the pilots did not tell the tower about any extraordinary event until the very last second,” said Marius Baranauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Aviation Authority.

“We need to examine the black boxes to find out what happened on the plane.”

Vilnius resident Kotryna Ciupailaite said the plane flew low over her car while she was driving to work.

“The right wing of the plane turned downward before it crashed, as if it were trying to turn. Something shiny came out of the right side of the plane, like sparks or a flame, before it hit the ground,” Ciupailaite said.

She shared with Reuters a video recorded through the windshield of her vehicle, which she said was filmed shortly after the crash, showing a large fire beyond a line of trees.

“Oh my God,” they were heard exclaiming in the video.

Swiftair said the plane crashed in a residential area near Vilnius airport and that it had set up a call center to help relatives of those affected.