At least one individual died and three others have been injured after a cargo airplane crashed close to Vilnius airport in Lithuania within the early hours of Monday.
The Boeing 737, operated for DHL by Spanish cargo airline Swiftair, crashed close to a home because it was within the closing phases of touchdown, native authorities mentioned.
All 12 folks have been safely evacuated from a property close to the crash web site, police mentioned.
Rescue providers mentioned all folks on the flight from Leipzig, Germany, had been discovered.
The airplane departed from DHL’s hub at Leipzig Airport shortly after 0300 native time (0200 GMT) and crashed about an hour and a half later, in accordance with information from the flight monitoring web site Flightradar24.
Flight operations proceed at Vilnius Airport as authorities reply to the crash, Flightradar24 mentioned on X.
Firefighters have been seen battling smoke coming from a constructing 1.3 km (0.8 miles) north of the airport’s runway, the Reuters information company reported.
The reason behind the accident is unknown and Lithuanian authorities have launched an investigation.
DHL confirmed it was the proprietor of the airplane and mentioned it had made an “emergency touchdown”.
Authorities mentioned they at present haven’t any information to recommend there was an explosion earlier than the crash.
The head of Lithuania’s fireplace and emergency providers unit, Renatas Pozela, mentioned the airplane was imagined to land at Vilnius airport and “crashed a couple of kilometers away”.
One individual of the 4 crew members died, he added.
Pozela mentioned a close-by home was “barely broken” and close by infrastructure caught fireplace, however all residents have been safely evacuated.
The airplane was a Boeing 737-400, an airport spokeswoman mentioned.
The climate reported earlier than the crash was 0°C (32°F), with pre-dawn clouds and winds round 30 km/h (19mph), the Associated Press reported.
The airplane was 31 years previous, AP added.
