A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house as it made its approach to land at Lithuania’s Vilnius airport, killing one person and injuring three others on the aircraft.

The flight was operated by SWIFT airline on behalf of DHL and had taken off from Leipzig, Germany before the plane crashed around 3.30am.


All of the people in the house survived, he added. The spokesperson said there was nothing to suggest an explosion preceded the crash.

He said: “At the moment we don’t have any data that there was an explosion.”

Burning goods following the crash of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius

Burning goods following the crash of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius

Getty

A map showing the crash locationu200b

A map showing the crash location

Getty

u200bThe wreckage of a cargo plane in the courtyard of a house following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius.

The wreckage of a cargo plane in the courtyard of a house following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius.

Getty

Police told a press conference 12 people had been evacuated from the house hit by the plane. Rescue services said the plane hit the ground and slid at least 100 metres before crashing into the building.

Firefighters were seen at 5.30am pouring water onto a smoking building some 1.3 km north of the airport runway.

A large police and ambulance presence was seen nearby and several nearby major streets were cordoned off.

The flight had departed from Leipzig at 2.08am Flightradar24 said on the X social media platform.

u200b The crash of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport

The crash of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport

Getty

u200bLithuanian law enforcement officers work at the crash site of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport

Lithuanian law enforcement officers work at the crash site of a cargo plane near the Vilnius International Airport

Getty

It comes after British counter-terrorism police said shortly afterwards that they were 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.

More to come…