A technical failure or human error, the main hypotheses of the incident
MADRID, 25 (EUROPA PRESS)
A pilot of Spanish nationality has died when a cargo plane crashed in a residential area in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, according to local authorities, who have also confirmed that two other injured people have been evacuated to a hospital.
The accident took place around 5:30 a.m. (local time), when the plane, a Boeing 737 operated by the Spanish airline Swift Air for DHL, was trying to make an emergency landing, as the German firm explained. He was flying from the German city of Leipzig.
There were four crew members on board, including the deceased pilot who was located “without any sign of life”, as explained by the head of the Lithuanian National Center for Crisis Management, Vilmantas Vitkauskas. The other three crew members have Spanish, German and Lithuanian nationality, reports the Elta agency.
The Spanish Embassy in Vilnius is already in contact with the Lithuanian authorities and the affected companies to verify the information and “provide all necessary consular assistance”, according to Foreign Affairs sources consulted by Europa Press.
The Prime Minister, Ingrida Simonyte, has celebrated that at least “there are no deaths among the local population”, given that the incident occurred in a residential area. The mayor of Vilnius, Valdas Benkunskas, has stressed that the aircraft almost hit a residential building, in the vicinity of which it ended up crashing.
The property, however, did suffer a fire due to the impact of the wreckage of the plane, but the 13 residents who were inside “are safe and have been evacuated.” The fire was extinguished in about two hours.
THE CAUSES ARE INVESTIGATED
The prime minister has urgently summoned the ministries of the Interior and Transport, as well as spokespersons for the Police, the Fire Department, the Vilnius airport and the capital’s City Council to “evaluate the situation and coordinate efforts,” according to a statement. of the Government.
The Police and the Prosecutor’s Office have already begun to work on the ground to clarify “all the circumstances of the incident,” says the note, in which Simonyte urges not to enter into speculation and let the professionals work.
The National Center for Crisis Management has cited as the initial hypothesis of the incident that it was due to “a technical problem”, despite the fact that “in the current geopolitical context each incident is analyzed in a different way”, reports the LRT channel.
The Chief of Police, Arunas Paulauskas, has also alluded to “a technical failure or human error” as the main line of investigation, although in his case he has alluded that “terrorism cannot be ruled out.”
Germany had issued a warning to logistics companies at the end of August, German security authorities began to warn about “unconventional incendiary devices” sent by unknown persons through parcel service providers. At that time, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the Federal Criminal Investigation Office (BKA) issued a corresponding alert to companies in the aviation and logistics sector.
The warning was allegedly related to an incident at DHL’s logistics center in Leipzig, which serves as the company’s global hub. In July, a package sent from the Baltic countries caught fire there, supposedly containing an incendiary device, although in Monday’s incident there was no evidence that there were explosions or fires on board the Swiftair plane.