The pilot of the DHL cargo plane that crashed this Monday in Vilnius and who died in the accident is of Spanish nationality, as is a member of the crew who was injured and hospitalized, informed EFE the head of communications of the Lithuanian police, Ramūnas Matonis.
Matonis said a German and another Lithuanian national were also injured and hospitalized after the Boeing 737 crashed in a residential area near Vilnius airport, a few kilometers from the runway.
The plane, which left the German city of Leipzig, belonged to the Spanish company Swiftair, according to public radio LRT. The causes of the accident are still under investigation, according to the police spokesperson.
“An inspection of the scene will be carried out to determine the cause of the plane crash. All circumstances are being investigated,” Police Commissioner General Arūnas Paulauskas said at a press conference.
The event occurred at 05:31 local time (03:31 GMT) when the Lithuanian Fire and Rescue Service (PAGD) received information that an explosion and fire had occurred on Žirnių Street in Vilnius.
A cargo plane crashed and a two-story residential building caught fire. “The plane was landing, but it fell a few kilometers before the airport, skidded several hundred meters and its remains hit a residential house,” said PAGD director Renatas Požėla, during a press conference.
Paulauskas in turn indicated that the plane had crashed specifically into a warehouse next to the building. It is a densely populated area.
Evacuation of 12 people
Firefighters rescued three victims from the wreckage of the plane and extracted one dead man, the Spanish pilot. Rescuers evacuated 12 people from the building as the wreckage of the plane burned. Finally, the fire was extinguished by firefighters.
An emergency coordination center has been set up on site. Police and airport staff were also deployed. At 7:33 a.m. local time (05:33 GMT), the fire was finally considered to be under control and individual extinction was carried out.
Acting Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said that the capital’s municipality where the accident occurred would receive all necessary assistance. “The most important thing is that, although the accident occurred in a residential area, casualties were avoided among the people living there,” Šimonytė said in a comment published on Monday.
“I ask you to have confidence in the capacity of the institutions to carry out the investigation professionally and as quickly as possible. Only these investigations will answer questions about the real causes of the incident, speculation and conjecture will not really contribute to establishing the truth,” he stressed, according to LRT.
