At least one person was killed when a DHL cargo plane crashed into a house in Lithuania this morning.
One other person was taken to hospital after the aircraft smashed into a two-storey home near Vilnius Airport around 5.30am local time (3.30am UK time), Lithuania’s public broadcaster said.
All of the residents in the house survived.
Pic: AP
The cargo plane, which was operated by Madrid-based contractor Swiftair, was flying from Leipzig in Germany, the Lithuanian airport authority said.
It posted on X that city services including a fire truck were on site and did not immediately offer a cause for the crash.
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport, lining up for landing, before crashing about a mile short of the runway.
Pic: AP
A large police and ambulance presence was seen nearby, and several nearby major streets were cordoned off.
The head of the country’s police, Renatas Pozela, said: “It fell a few kilometres before the airport, it just skidded for a few hundred metres, its debris somewhat caught a residential house.
“Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people,” he said.
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Weather at Vilnius International Airport was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old and considered by experts to be an older airframe – though that is not unusual for cargo flights.
DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, did not immediately return a call for comment. Swiftair also could not be immediately reached.