A DHL cargo flight has crashed into a house as it approached Vilnius Airport in Lithuania, killing the pilot and injuring three crew members.
The plane had been travelling from the German city of Leipzig.
The crash follows reports in recent months that mysterious explosions had occurred at DHL warehouses in Leipzig and Birmingham amid fears of a Russian covert sabotage operation intended to explode aircraft flying in the West.
The incident happened at about 5.30am local time – 3.30am British time – near Zirniu Street, south of the Lithuanian capital.
An airport spokesperson said: ‘The city’s special services are working at the scene and leading the rescue efforts, as well as crews from the Vilnius Airport Fire Service.
POLICE REPORT
Police commissioner Renatas Pozela said of the plane: ‘It fell a few kilometres before the airport. It just skidded for a few hundred metres – 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.’
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a ‘DHL cargo plane flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius Airport’.
