DHL cargo plane crashes in Lithuania, killing 1, local officials say
LONDON and BELGRADE -- A DHL cargo plane crashed near the Lithuanian capital early on Monday, killing one of four people on board, local officials said.
The plane, which had been traveling from Leipzig, Germany, crashed in Liepkalnis, on the outskirts of the capital, Vilnius, the Lithuanian airport authority said in a statement posted on social media. The flight had been expected to land at Vilnius Airport, officials said.
"City services are currently on-site, along with a fire truck and a command team from Vilnius Airport," the short statement said. "Airport operations are not disrupted at this time."
The jet was a Boeing 737-476 operated by Swiftair, according to Flightradar24, an aircraft tracker.
Emergency responders were notified at 5:28 a.m. that the plane had crashed near a building, the Vilnius Fire and Rescue Department said. Photos and videos taken near the crash site appeared to show a residential area.
First responders reached the crash location, which is a little more than half a mile from the airport, within about six minutes, according to Bozena Jerenkovic, a medical doctor who was part of the emergency team on site.
One of the pilots was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was transferred to a local hospital in critical condition, Jerenkovic told ABC News. It appeared that the cockpit had been separated from the plane's fuselage, she added.
The Lithuanian National Crisis Management Center confirmed to ABC News that the pilot is in critical condition. The other two people who were injured in the crash are doing OK, the National Crisis Management Center said.
Thirteen people were evacuated without injuries from a nearby residential building, she said.
It appeared to be "nothing short of a miracle" that there were survivors of the crash, which was followed by a huge fireball, said Vidas Kaupelis, an aviation expert in Lithuania.
Kaupelis, who listened to a recording of the pilots communicating with on-the-ground controllers prior to the crash, said there was also a clear indication that there was no sense of emergency. The pilots and the controllers appeared to run through a simple approach routine during the approximately five minutes they spoke, according to Kaupelis.
He speculated that the crash may have come as a surprise to even the pilots, as it appeared to have happened just seconds after their communication with the controllers. If they had been dealing with major issues, like a fire or technical problems, they likely would have communicated about it with the flight controller, he said.
As emergency crews worked in the area near Žirnių Street, which the airport identified as the crash site, departures were delayed at Vilnius Airport, according to a statement. One incoming flight was diverted to Riga, Latvia, officials said. Air traffic resumed by about 7:20 a.m., the statement said.
ABC News has reached out to DHL, which is based in Bonn, Germany, for comment.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday it's sending a team of U.S. investigators to Lithuania to assist in the investigation, which is being led by Lithuanian authorities.
ABC News' Jessica Gorman and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
