A DHL cargo plane crashed while attempting to land at Lithuania’s Vilnius airport early on Monday. The plane skidded into a house, killing one person on board.
Three other people aboard the flight were injured, but no one on the ground was harmed, officials said.
Swiftair operated the scheduled flight on behalf of DHL, which had taken off from Leipzig, Germany. The crash occurred around 0330 GMT as the plane was approaching the airport, according to a spokesperson for Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Center.
Police and prosecutors are investigating the incident, though no evidence suggests an explosion preceded the crash.
“We currently have no data indicating an explosion,” the spokesperson said.
Darius Jauniskis, head of counter-intelligence, told reporters, “We cannot rule out terrorism, but at this moment, we can’t make any accusations, as we lack such information.”
An airport spokesperson confirmed that the plane was a Boeing 737-400.
Rescue services reported that the plane struck the ground, broke into pieces, and slid more than 100 meters before crashing into a building. A Lithuanian rescue services spokesperson said one person onboard was killed, and three others were injured.
Police reported that 12 people had been evacuated from the house, and no one on the ground suffered casualties.
Firefighters sprayed water on the smoking building, located about 1.3 kilometers north of the airport runway, while nearby streets were cordoned off.
DHL and Boeing have not yet responded to requests for comment.
The flight had departed from Leipzig at 0208 GMT, according to Flightradar24.
German authorities are investigating several fires caused by incendiary devices hidden in parcels at a warehouse in Leipzig earlier this year.
British counter-terrorism police are probing a July warehouse fire caused by a package catching fire, working with other European law enforcement agencies to investigate whether there is any link to similar incidents elsewhere.
Security officials told Reuters that parcels containing explosives found at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to cause explosions on cargo flights to the United States.
Leipzig Airport operator Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG declined to comment on the crash.
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