One crew member was killed when a cargo plane crashed early Monday on the outskirts of Vilnius Airport in Lithuania, skidded into a house, and burst into flames. Remarkably, three other people on board, including the pilot, survived the crash, along with 12 members of the household, all of whom were safely evacuated, according to local authorities. The cargo plane, which was flying from Leipzig, Germany, was due to land at Vilnius Airport when it crashed just a few kilometers from the runway.
The plane skidded for several hundred meters before striking a residential home, said Renatas Pozela, the chief of the Fire and Rescue Department. Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Center, confirmed that one crew member was found without any signs of life. He added that it was too early to determine the cause of the crash, noting that the “circumstances and causes” are under investigation.
At least two of the crew members were taken to the hospital, and authorities confirmed that all four individuals on board have been accounted for. No casualties were reported on the ground. The incident occurred around 5:30 a.m. local time (10 p.m. ET) near Zirniu Street, south of the capital, Vilnius. A spokesperson for the airport confirmed that the city’s special services and the Vilnius Airport Fire Service were leading the rescue efforts.
Photographs from the scene showed the wreckage of the cargo plane in the courtyard of a house. Due to ongoing rescue work near Vilnius Airport, some flight departures were delayed, but all scheduled flights continued to take off. The crashed cargo plane, a Swift Air aircraft operating under contract for DHL, was said to have made a forced landing about one kilometer from Vilnius Airport. DHL confirmed that four people were on board and stated that the status of the crew was still being clarified. The logistics company also noted that the cause of the accident remains unknown, and an investigation is underway.
Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas reported that the plane narrowly missed hitting the house directly, crashing instead into the nearby courtyard. Firefighters were seen dousing the building as thick smoke billowed into the sky. A spokesperson for the National Crisis Management Center told Reuters there was no evidence to suggest an explosion occurred before the crash. The head of the Lithuanian Police, Arūnas Paulauskas, stated that the incident was “most likely due to a technical fault or a human error,” though terrorism could not be ruled out. Paulauskas added that this was one of the lines of inquiry, and the investigation would take time. “There is a lot of work ahead. The collection of evidence can take the whole week, there will not be quick answers,” he said. This is a developing story and will be updated.
