Vilnius: A DHL cargo plane crashed as it came in to land at Lithuania’s Vilnius airport on Monday morning, killing one person 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.
Emergency services workers at the crash site in Vilnius, Lithuania.Credit: AP
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.
“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.
A Lithuanian police spokesperson said the person killed was a Spanish citizen, and the three injured were from Spain, Germany and Lithuania.
The Boeing 737-400 jet, which went down at 0330 GMT (1430 AEDT), was operated by airline Swiftair on behalf of DHL, a German logistics group, and had left Leipzig, Germany at 0208 GMT, according to Flightradar24.