DHL Cargo Plane Crashed Near Vilnius Airport In Lithuania

There are no signs that this was an act of sabotage or terror, but authorities have not ruled out that possibility. One person on board died, and three were injured.

A rescue worker walks through the wreckage of a DHL cargo plane at the crash site near Vilnius International Airport in Lithuania, November 25, 2024

A cargo plane operated for German logistics company DHL crashed near Vilnius International Airport in Lithuania early on Monday, killing at least one person, according to Lithuanian officials.

Lithuanian police confirmed that the deceased was a Spanish citizen and a member of the aircraft crew, but he was not one of the pilots.

Other passengers on the plane – a German, a Lithuanian, and another Spaniard – were reportedly injured, but their conditions remain unclear.

What does DHL say?

The German company said: “Today we confirm that a Swift Air aircraft operated by Partner Services on behalf of DHL made an emergency landing one kilometer from Vilnius Airport in Vilnius, Lithuania, while en route from Leipzig Airport in Germany to Vilnius Airport. Lithuania.”

A DHL spokesman in Lithuania told Reuters that the company had launched an investigation, adding: “We have no information that any packages on the crashed cargo plane were suspicious.”

German investigators also said they were “in close contact with relevant parties at home and abroad to get to the bottom of the case as quickly as possible.”

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing also said it was “working hard to gather more information” and was “ready to provide any support.”

The cause of the accident is unclear, but Lithuanian Police Chief Arunas Paulauskas did not rule out a terrorist motive.

“This is one of those stories that needs to be investigated and verified,” Paulauskas told a news conference. “We still have a lot of work to do.”

“These answers will not come so quickly,” he said, adding that investigating the crime scene, collecting evidence, and gathering information and objects could take a full week.

“Of course, we cannot rule out the terrorism hypothesis,” said Darius Junisskis, head of Lithuania’s intelligence service.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock did not rule out the sabotage hypothesis and said whether the incident was a “hybrid accident” should be raised.

“We now have to seriously ask ourselves whether this was one accident or another hybrid,” Annalena Berbock told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy.

According to rescue services, emergency crews were alerted to the accident at 5:28 a.m. local time (0328 GMT).

Lithuanian law enforcement officers work at the crash site of a DHL cargo plane near Vilnius International Airport Lithuanian law enforcement officers work at the crash site of a DHL cargo plane near Vilnius International Airport.

What do we know about the DHL accident so far?

Swiftair operated the plane and took off from the German city of Leipzig, DHL’s hub. “The plane crashed a few kilometers in front of the airport and then slid for hundreds of meters, with the wreckage more or less stuck to a residential building,” said Renata Bozilla, head of Lithuania’s rescue service.

“The residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we were able to evacuate people,” he added. According to officials, 12 residents of the building were evacuated. Vilnius Mayor Valdas Penkunskas said the plane “accidentally” missed the house and crashed in the yard.

A series of accidents related to the transport of goods

German security services had already warned in August against the transport of “unconventional incendiary items” via transport services.

In July, a warning was issued after a fire broke out at a DHL Leipzig logistics center in an item that appeared to have been shipped from the Baltic states.

Similar incidents occurred in July when devices caught fire at courier warehouses near Warsaw, Poland, and Birmingham, England, with Lithuanian prosecutor Neda Grunskini claiming that the packages originated from Lithuania.

Poland and Lithuania border the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, and acts of sabotage are not ruled out.

“I can confirm that this is part of an unconventional kinetic operation carried out by Russian military intelligence against NATO countries,” Kestutis Podlis, national security adviser to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, told Reuters in early November.

“We are seeing an escalation of these operations: their focus is shifting to … causing damage to infrastructure and businesses, which can lead to the loss of life,” he added. Moscow has denied the allegations.