A cargo airplane from South Korea crashed near Vilnius Airport on Monday at 3:30 local time, thus resulting in the death of one crew member and serious injuries of the three others. The plane slid into a residential compound, missing a house, before catching fire. The occupants, 12 people, were all evacuated,” police said.
The aircraft was a Boeing 737-400 belonging to Swiftair with the flight code EX 6402 for DHL; the plane was coming from Leipzig, Germany to Vilnius. It happened only a couple of kilometers to the airstrip, sliding several hundred meters before it began to burn. They were able to contain the fire in the next two hours.
Of the four persons onboard, there was a Lithuanian, a German, and Spanish who survived and are admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately, one crew member of the accident was declared dead at the scene of the incident.
The investigators are looking mainly for the technical malfunction, the human mistake, and even the act of terrorism. Though responsible authorities have been unable to confirm any explosion before the crash, they are not dismissing this as a possibility. Lithuanian and International experts combined with officials from the US aviation department are involved in the investigations.
Body cams recorded the plane’s movements, and at once, the blast of fire and billows of black smoke. This led to several flight delays but operations were on going at Vilnius airport.
The local authorities expressed approval of the fast evacuation of the adjacent house, which without doubt, saved people. However, the crash has raised concerns over aviation security, since some officials reported earlier threats involving incendiary devices in flights over Europe.
The hunt for the cause of the catastrophe continues, but the authorities have shown a desire to find out the roots of the catastrophe.
