A DHL cargo plane has crashed as it came in to land at Lithuania's Vilnius airport, killing one person aboard in what Germany's foreign minister later said could be an accident or a hybrid attack in "volatile times".
The three other people onboard were injured, and at least one of them was in critical condition. Flames and smoke engulfed the wrecked plane as fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
Lithuanian officials said there was no indication of sabotage so far, though Germany is investigating several fires caused by incendiary devices hidden inside parcels at a warehouse in Leipzig for delivery by DHL earlier this year. German authorities were investigating Monday's crash as well.
European countries have repeatedly expressed concerns about the vulnerability of civilian infrastructure, misgivings which also reared their head after the unexplained severing of two fibre-optic cables in the Baltic Sea last week.
Lithuanian president and German ambassador visit plane crash scene. – Reuters
"The fact that we, together with our Lithuanian and Spanish partners, must now seriously ask ourselves whether this was an accident or, after last week, another hybrid incident shows what volatile times we are currently living in, even in the centre of Europe," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
"The German authorities are working very closely with the Lithuanian authorities to get to the bottom of this," she added.
The Boeing 737-400 jet, which went down at 0330 GMT, was operated by airline Swiftair on behalf of DHL, a German logistics group, and had left Leipzig, Germany, at 0208 GMT, according to Flightradar24.
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 that there is no evidence pointing to that yet.
“Without a doubt, we cannot rule out the terrorism version,” said Darius Jauniškis, chief of Lithuanian intelligence.
"But at the moment we can't make attributions or point fingers, because we don't have such information."
In a statement, DHL said the plane, which was arriving from Leipzig, Germany, "made a forced landing" about one kilometre (0.6 mile) from VNO airport and that the cause of the crash was still unknown. A DHL spokesperson declined to elaborate.
Traffic at Leipzig airport appears unaffected after ill-fated DHL plane’s take-off earlier. – Reuters
Lithuanian officials meanwhile said there had been no signs of anything extraordinary from the pilots during radio contact with the aircraft.
"In the recording of the conversation between the pilots and the tower, the pilots until the very last second did not tell the tower of any extraordinary event," said Marius Baranauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Aviation Authority.
"We need to examine the black boxes to know what was happening in the aircraft."
Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas said “there were definitely no external factors that could have damaged the plane”.
“We can clearly see that,” he said. "However, to find out what happened inside the plane, it will be necessary to interview the surviving crew members. And of course, the black box. That will take some time.”
A police officer guards the crash site near Vilnius International Airport, Lithuania. – Reuters
Vilnius resident Kotryna Ciupailaite said the aircraft flew low over her car as she was driving to work.
"The right wing of the plane turned down before it crashed, as if it was trying to turn," said Ciupailaite.
"There was something shiny coming out of the right side of the plane, like sparks or a flame, before it hit the ground."
She shared a video with Reuters shot through her vehicle's windshield, which she said was filmed shortly after the crash, showing a big fire beyond a range of trees.
Swiftair said the plane went down in a residential area near Vilnius airport, and that it had set up a call centre to assist the relatives of those affected.
Moment a DHL cargo plane crashes into house near Lithuania airport. – Reuters
Plane broken into pieces
Security camera footage showed an aircraft descending behind a warehouse after which the night sky was lit up in bright red and orange, followed by plumes of thick dark smoke.
One eyewitness, who gave her name only as Svaja, said she ran to a window when she saw the light and had heard an explosion.
“I saw a fireball,” she said. “My first thought is that a world (war) has begun and it’s time to grab the documents and run somewhere to a shelter, to a basement.”
Rescue services said the plane hit the ground, split into pieces and slid over 100 metres (110 yards). Some debris hit a house, whose 14 occupants were later evacuated.
The cargo aircraft was carrying four people when it crashed. One person, a Spanish citizen, was declared dead and the other three crew members – who were Spanish, German and Lithuanian citizens – were injured, said Ramūnas Matonis, the head of communications for Lithuanian police.
Emergency services chiefs speak to the press after the DHL plane crash in Vilnius. – Reuters
The person who was killed was a member of the flight crew but not a pilot, officials said.
Firefighters freed two pilots from the cockpit, one of whom was more seriously injured, according to the General Commissioner of the Lithuanian Police Arūnas Paulauskas.
Lithuanian police and prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into the incident and a specialised Justice Ministry unit will carry out a civil aviation incident probe, the government said.
"Only these investigations will answer questions on the real reasons of the incident," Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said in a statement.
"Speculations and guesses will really not help to determine the truth. The responsible agencies are working diligently. I urge everyone to have confidence in the investigating authorities’ ability to conduct a thorough and professional investigation within an optimal timeframe.
A piece of debris from a DHL cargo plane which crashed into a house is seen near the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. – AP
Standard parcels
DHL has launched its own investigation into the crash, a spokesperson for the company's Lithuanian arm said.
"The aircraft (carried) regular parcels. We do not have any information that any of them were suspicious," she said.
A European Union Aviation Safety Agency spokesperson and German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said it was too early to determine what had caused the crash.
The aircraft was 31 years old, according to a Flightradar24 database. Boeing was seeking more information and would provide any support, a Boeing spokesperson said.
British counter-terrorism police are investigating a warehouse fire in July, caused by a package catching alight, and liaising with other European law enforcement agencies to see if there was a connection with similar incidents elsewhere.
Security officials have said parcels that exploded at logistics depots in Europe were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States.
Leipzig Airport operator Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG declined to comment on the crash.
Apart from the German investigations, British police are probing a warehouse fire in Birmingham in July caused by a package catching alight, and liaising with other European law enforcement agencies to see if there was a connection with similar incidents elsewhere.