The chilling audio recording of the moment DHL cargo plane crashed and sparked a massive inferno in Lithuania yesterday has only served to deepen the mystery around the shocking explosion.
The Boeing 737-400 had travelled from the German city of Leipzig to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and was just one mile from touching down on the runway when the fiery crash occurred around 5.30am local time (3.30am GMT) on Monday.
A security camera overlooking the scene captured the plane gliding in toward Vilnius Airport at a dangerously low altitude.
Suddenly the aircraft pitched to the right with the wingtip angling down and dove into the earth, erupting in a huge fireball that lit up the early morning sky.
But the communication between the cockpit and air traffic control appeared completely normal as the pilots provided no warning whatsoever that they were experiencing any difficulties before they hit the ground.
Minutes before the crash, the pilot greeted air traffic controllers with a ‘good morning’ and established the correct runway seemingly without any issue.
Yet as the plane banked south and made its final approach, the comms went silent and attempts to raise the pilot went unanswered.
Then air traffic control realised the DHL plane had careened into the earth a mile from the airport. The recording captured the controller frantically doling out messages, warning other planes to abort their landing or takeoff as the emergency situation unfolded.
‘Cancel your start-up, go back to your stand… we just got a crash of an aircraft on final… a Boeing 737,’ the tower controller said solemnly.
Marius Baranauskas, head of the Lithuanian National Aviation Authority, highlighted the strange nature of the cockpit recording.
‘In the recording of the conversation between the pilots and the tower, the pilots until the very last second did not tell the tower of any extraordinary event,’ he said.
‘We need to examine the black boxes to know what was happening in the aircraft.’
The Boeing 737-400 had travelled from the German city of Leipzig to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius and was just one mile from touching down on the runway when the fiery incident occurred
The aircraft pitched to the right with the wingtip angling down and dove into the ground, erupting in a huge fireball that lit up the early morning sky
This photograph taken on November 25, xxx 2024 shows burning goods following the crash of a cargo plane
Shocking images from the scene of the crash showed debris strewn about frost-covered ground as firefighters raced to extinguish the blaze.
The plane narrowly avoided hitting a major motorway and instead came down in a wooded area, skidding several hundred metres before finally stopping when it collided with a two-storey residential property.
Miraculously, three of the four people on board survived the ordeal, albeit with significant injuries, according to Lithuanian Police Commissioner General Arunas Paulauskas, who told national broadcaster LRT that rescuers managed to pull them from the wreckage.
One member of the four-person crew – a man with Spanish nationality – was reportedly found dead at the scene, Lithuanian media reported, but 12 people were evacuated from the stricken building without incident.
The cause of the crash remains a mystery as Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre deployed experts to investigate.
There was no data to suggest that there had been an explosion prior to the crash, head of the centre Vilmantas Vitkauskas told LRT.
‘According to the initial version, the incident may be related to technical problems. However, it is too early to talk about anything more precise,’ he said.
But Vilnius resident Kotryna Ciupailaite, who said the aircraft flew low over her car as she was driving to work, said she noticed something trailing from the right wing moments before the crash.
‘The right wing of the plane turned down before it crashed, as if it was trying to turn. There was something shiny coming out of the right side of the plane, like sparks or a flame, before it hit the ground,’ said Ciupailaite.
The incident 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.
Police Commissioner Paulauskas said investigators have not ruled out the possibility of a terrorist act.
‘This is one of the versions that must be studied and checked,’ he said, but added: ‘It was most likely due to a technical fault or a human error.’
A security camera overlooking the scene captured the plane gliding in toward Vilnius Airport but at a dangerously low altitude
Miraculously, both pilots miraculously survived the ordeal, albeit with significant injuries, though one crewmember was killed
Lithuanian Emergency Ministry employees work at the site where a DHL cargo plane crashed into a house near Vilnius, Lithuania
The moment a DHL cargo plane with four crew crashes into a Vilnius residential building leaving at least one crewmember dead
A Police officer guards the DHL cargo plane crash site near Vilnius International Airport, Lithuania November 25, 2024
Burning packages and wreckage of the DHL cargo plane are seen at the crash site near Vilnius International Airport, Lithuania November 25, 2024
The explosion from the crash lights up the early morning sky in Vilnius
Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft made a turn to the north of the airport and lined up for landing before crashing a little more than 1.5 kilometres, or one mile, short of the runway.
‘The plane was due to land at Vilnius airport and crashed a few kilometres away,’ Renatas Pozela, the head of the firefighting and emergency services unit said, confirming that one person in the four-member crew died.
‘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,’ Pozela said.
Other officials were careful not to jump to conclusions.
State Security Department chief Darius Jauniskis said: ‘We cannot rule out the case of terrorism. We have warned that such things are possible, we see an increasingly aggressive Russia… but we cannot make any attributions or point fingers yet.
‘It is premature to associate (the crash) with anything or to make any attributions,’ Jauniskis told reporters.
‘In the current geopolitical context, we look at every incident differently than before, but I ask you to refrain from jumping to conclusions,’ the outgoing prime minister, Ingrida Simonyte, said in a statement on social media.
Emergency service workers attend the scene of the crash in a woodland near Vilnius
Lithuanian rescuers are seen working next to the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in the country’s capital this morning
The plane had been travelling from the German city of Leipzig to the Lithuanian capital and was just one mile from touching down on the runway when the fiery crash occurred
A medic was seen taking a photo at the scene of the crash which killed at least one person
Three crew members were also said to be injured and 12 residents of a home evacuated
A cordon is seen around the affected area with plane wreckage visible among the trees
Firefighters are seen at a property near the crash site with smoke continuing to rise in the background
One eyewitness, who gave her name only as Svaja, ran to a window when a light as bright as a red sun filled her room, and then heard an explosion followed by flashes and black smoke.
‘I saw a fireball,’ she told an AP reporter at the scene. ‘My first thought is that a world (war) has begun and it’s time to grab the documents and run somewhere to a shelter, to a basement.’
‘We were woken by an explosion. Through the window, we saw the wave of explosions and a cloud of fire. Like fireworks,’ Stanislovas Jakimavicius, who lives near the crash site, told AFP.
German logistics company DHL said the aircraft was operated by its partner SwiftAir and had been attempting an ’emergency landing’.
‘We can confirm that at approximately 4.30 am CET, a Swiftair aircraft, operated by a service partner on behalf of DHL, performed an emergency landing about one kilometre from VNO Airport (Vilnius, Lithuania) while en route from LEJ Airport (Leipzig, Germany) to VNO Airport,’ it said in a statement.
A German transport ministry official said the country’s Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation ‘will support the investigation on site’.
Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters that the probe to establish the cause of the crash could take ‘about a week’.
‘So far, there are no signs or evidence suggesting this was sabotage or a terrorist act,’ he said.
Local Police Chief Paulauskas said investigators had gone to the hospital to talk to the pilots.
This photograph taken on November 25, 2024 shows the wreckage of a cargo plane in the courtyard of a house following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius
A pilot of the plane heading to Vilnius airport is reported to have been killed in Monday’s crash
Smoke is seen billowing following this morning’s crash south of the Lithuanian capital
Meanwhile, Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas declared an emergency situation following the crash, with traffic restricted on several roads near the airport and crash site.
‘We will urgently declare an emergency situation in the area to ensure the rapid liquidation of the consequences of the accident – cleaning up the territory, collecting harmful materials,’ Benkunskas said in a statement released this morning.
The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a ‘DHL cargo plane flying from Leipzig, Germany, to Vilnius Airport’.
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.’
The DHL aircraft, a Boeing 737-400, was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor.
The Boeing 737 was 31 years old, which is considered by experts to be an older airframe, though that is not unusual for cargo flights.
DHL official Ausra Rutkauskien confirmed the plane belonged to the company, while Boeing offered a short statement saying it was ready to help with investigations into the crash.
Weather at Vilnius airport this morning was around freezing temperature, with clouds before sunrise and winds said to be at 30kph (18 mph).
At the scene of the crash, frost was seen coating the ground not already covered by the wreckage of the plane or burning, ruined goods.
Vilnius Airport continued operating as usual following the incident, though some flights were delayed.
Emergency workers comb through the wreckage of the cargo plane
A Lithuanian medic takes a photo on his mobile phone of the wreckage of a cargo plane following its crash near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on November 25, 2024
Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT, quoting an emergency official, said the aircraft smashed into a two-story home near the capital Vilnius’s airport
The plane appeared to be lining up for landing, before crashing a little more than 1.5km, or one mile, short of the runway
The DHL aircraft, a 31-year-old Boeing 737, was operated by Madrid-based contractor Swiftair
Western officials have previously this month expressed fears that Russia is behind plots to plant bombs on passenger planes flying to the US and Canada after electronic massagers exploded in a warehouse.
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BREAKING NEWS
Russian spies plotted to firebomb US-bound flights from Europe, western officials believe
Two incendiary devices were shipped via a DHL logistics centre on July 22 to Birmingham, England, and Leipzig, Germany, resulting in a fire.
Four people were arrested in connection with the blaze and charged with participating in sabotage or terrorist operations on behalf of a foreign intelligence agency.
No injuries were reported, with the incident dealt with by staff and the local fire brigade.
But investigators believe there could have been far more serious consequences had the devices ignited while in flight. The plane’s takeoff was delayed, preventing such an incident from taking place.
Head of Poland’s foreign intelligence agency, Pawel Szota, blamed Russia, although a statement from the Polish prosecutor’s office did not name a foreign government suspected of directing the operations.
Images released by the Wall Street Journal, provided by an unnamed European security official, appear to show the massage pillows, suspect and the moment of the explosion.
The only official statement in the UK about the alleged plot was made last month, when counter-terror police confirmed a device had caught fire in Birmingham, nobody was hurt, and it was dealt with ‘by staff and the local fire brigade at the time’.
Russia denied involvement in the alleged plot.
‘These are traditional unsubstantiated insinuations from the media,’ Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Wall Street Journal.
Two incendiary devices had been shipped via a DHL logistics centre on July 22 to Birmingham, England, and Leipzig, Germany, resulting in a fire
The alleged suspect is spotted in security camera footage
Massage pillows and other erotic gadgets were reportedly found in a shipment that concealed incendiary devices that later detonated in British and German DHL depots
Concerns over Russia’s suspected involvement come as Western officials are increasingly fearing the country may be responsible for similar sabotage acts.
German intelligence service chief Thomas Haldenwang previously said Russian ‘aggression’ was ‘putting people’s lives at risk’ as well as affecting ‘all areas of our free society’.
Meanwhile, defence officials have warned that Europe is not ready for Russia’s tactics of hybrid warfare
A former senior European official told the Guardian that the EU is ‘totally unprepared’ to confront Moscow in its campaign of ‘hybrid’ warfare, lacking the resources to effectively counter sabotage, arson, assassination and attacks on infrastructure.
They said Europe could expect more ‘hybrid’ attacks to unfold on the continent in the wake of the decision to permit usage of long-range US and UK-supplied missiles against targets deep inside Russia.
Russia has been accused of trying to destabilise the West and allies since the war in Ukraine began by allegedly ‘weaponising mass migration’ along its western border, influencing elections in Moldova and Georgia, jamming aircraft GPS and even sending exploding sex toys to Western Europe.
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