A transport plane crashed on Monday in Vilnius, right next to the airport. Reuters published a recording showing the last moments of the flight and the moment when the disaster occurred.
The recording, published by Reuters, comes from surveillance cameras. It shows the last moments of the flight of a transport plane that was approaching the airport in Vilnius. At some point, the machine disappears, its view is obscured by the building. After a while, you can see a ball of fire caused by the plane's explosion.
The moment of the plane crash in Vilnius. A shot from the recording Reuters
Flight from Leipzig
A SWIFT cargo plane operating for DHL was flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius. The plane hit a residential building near the capital's airport on Monday morning. Police said the plane crashed while approaching to land. An airport spokesman said it was a Boeing 737-400.
According to the Lithuanian portal Delfi, there were four people on board the plane – two pilots and two DHL employees.
– We managed to avoid casualties among residents. As for the four-person crew, one person died and two were transported to hospital. One person has not been located yet, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of the National Crisis Management Center, told journalists.
Disaster in Vilnius. The plane crashed near the airportPetras Malukas / AFP / East News
Evacuated families
The Delfi portal reported, citing sources, that the plane was completely destroyed. It crashed a few kilometers short of the airport and hit a two-story apartment building, which caught fire.
Lithuanian police said shortly after media reports that three families lived in the building. Firefighters evacuated 12 people, none of them was injured.
Many police and rescuers are working near the scene of the incident, and several nearby main streets have been cordoned off, Reuters reported.
The Crisis Management Center is investigating the causes
The Crisis Management Center announced in a statement that it had started an investigation to explain the causes of the disaster. It was noted that “at the moment there is no information that there was an explosion on board.”
Earlier, Chief Police Commander Arunas Paulauskas stated that the version of a terrorist act was not ruled out. – This is one of the versions that will have to be investigated. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I think it could take a whole week to investigate the scene, collect evidence, collect things. These answers will not appear soon, Paulauskas noted.
Main photo source: Reuters