Terrifying new video has emerged showing the moment a DHL cargo plane crashed into a building.
The plane crashed on approach to an airport in Lithuania’s capital and skidded into a nearby house on Monday morning, leaving at least one person dead, officials said. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
The head of the country’s firefighting service said the plane skidded for a few hundred metres. Photos showed smoke rising from a damaged structure in an area of barren trees.
“Residential infrastructure around the house was on fire, and the house was slightly damaged, but we managed to evacuate people,” said Renatas Požėla, Fire and Rescue Department chief.
Quoting an emergency official, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT said two people were taken to hospital after the crash. One was later pronounced dead.
The person who was killed was a member of the flight crew but not a pilot. Firefighters freed two pilots from the cockpit, with one more seriously injured than the other, according to Arūnas Paulauskas, General Commissioner of the Lithuanian Police.
Mr Paulauskas told a news conference the causes of the accident were not yet known. Officers went to the hospital to speak to crew members being treated and gather information.
The General Commissioner also said investigators are considering various possible causes, such as technical failure and human error. They have not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist act.
“This is one of the versions that must be studied and checked,” said Mr Paulauskas, according to LRT.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany, which is a major freight hub. It posted on the social media platform X that city services, including a fire truck, were on site.
Fragments of the plane in the company’s trademark yellow colour were visible in the wreckage.