"Nothing seems to indicate an explosion on board"
About four kilometers from Vilnius airport, the cargo plane of the Spanish Swiftair, which flew on behalf of courier company DHL, already hit the ground. The plane slid several hundred meters along the ground and hit an apartment building, after which a fire broke out. The residents of the building were able to be evacuated in extremis and escaped death. The Spanish pilot of the plane did not survive the impact. Three other crew members, from Spain, Germany and Lithuania, were taken to hospital with injuries. Aviation experts call the fact that they are still alive “a miracle”.
In the meantime, Lithuanian and German authorities report that there is currently no indication of an explosion on board the aircraft.
A day after the cargo plane crash in Lithuania, investigators found the recorders with the dates of the flight and the voices in the cockpit. And nothing suspicious would appear from that. There are no indications of an explosion, fire or smoke development before the crash, the Lithuanian National Crisis Center reports. This is also confirmed by one of the surviving crew members, who was already able to speak to the researchers. And the conversation between the pilots and air traffic control was also calm and routine.
Terror attack?
The Lithuanian police are now asking residents to share images of the crash. “If anyone has videos that could be useful to the investigation, please share them with the police,” police boss Arunas Paulauskas told the public broadcaster.
Experts are asking out loud questions about what happened, after all, the weather would have been clear. The head of the Lithuanian police, Arunas Paulauskas, states that the crash was most likely due to a technical malfunction or human error... Or is there sabotage after all?
(SR for Tagtik/Source: Stern - Bild/Illustration picture: Jan Rosolino for Unsplash)