At least one dead after DHL cargo plane crashes into house in Lithuania

A DHL cargo plane has crashed into a house in Lithuania killing at least one person on Monday morning.

The Boeing 737 which was travelling from Leipzig, Germany was heading to Lithuania's capital city Vilnius when it crashed at around 5.30am local time (3.30am GMT), shortly before landing at the airport.

Local reports said three others on board the flight, including the pilot, survived the crash, as well as 12 members of the home who were safely evacuated.

“One crew member was found without any signs of life,” said Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the country’s National Crisis Management Center, according to public broadcaster LRT.

All four on board are now accounted for. There were no reported casualties on the ground.

Lithuanian’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said at least two crew members were taken to hospital with one later pronounced dead.

Renatas Požėla, the Head of the Fire and Rescue Department, told reporters: “It [the plane] fell a few kilometers before the airport, it just skidded for a few hundred meters, 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.”

Pictures online show a large explosion followed by a fireball near the airport with thick black smoke and flames seen rising above the tree line.

Firefighters were later seen pouring water on the house near the crash site.

The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane arriving from Leipzig, Germany.

It also confirmed that all scheduled aircrafts are currently taking off from Vilnius airport.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport, lining up for landing, before crashing a little more than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) short of the runway.

A cause for the crash has not been given by authorities.

Weather at the airport was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise and winds around 18 mph.

The 31-year-old DHL aircraft, operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor, is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that’s not unusual for cargo flights.

According to CNN, DHL Group said the plane “made a forced landing about one kilometer from VNO Airport.” It confirmed four people were onboard and said “the status of the crew is still being clarified.”

“The cause of the accident is still unknown, and an investigation is underway,” DHL said.

The head of the Lithuanian Police, Arūnas Paulauskas, said the incident was “most likely due to a technical fault or a human error” but that terrorism “cannot be ruled out,” according to LRT.

“This is one of the versions of the crash, which will be investigated and checked. There is a lot of work ahead. The collection of evidence can take the whole week, there will not be quick answers."

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