Preliminary information from Lithuanian police indicate one crew fatality from the four occupants of a Swiftair Boeing 737 cargo aircraft which crashed north of Vilnius airport early on 25 November.
Three other crew members were injured, the police state, after the jet came down near a main highway about 0.6nm from the threshold of Vilnius’s runway 19.
Firefighters and airport workers have been attending the scene.
Madrid-based Swiftair has confirmed the aircraft involved is EC-MFE, with four people on board, which was arriving from Leipzig.
“Emergency crews are working at the site of the aircraft, so there is still no confirmed information on the condition of the passengers and crew, nor on the exact extent of the incident and its causes,” it states.
Swiftair operates on behalf of freight companies including DHL.
“From the very first minutes of the incident, the authorities took all the measures prepared for such a case,” says the Lithuanian government.
“Residents were successfully evacuated and the fire was contained. Traffic has already been restored.”
Vilnius airport’s operator states that the aircraft had been arriving from Leipzig when the accident occurred around 05:30.
The situation resulted in “several” departures being delays, it adds, and an inbound aircraft having to divert to Riga in neighbouring Latvia.
Flight operations at Vilnius were restored at around 07:20, some 2h after the crash.
There is no immediate information regarding the circumstances of the accident.
Meteorological data from Vilnius at the time suggests a low cloud base, between 500ft and 800ft, but good visibility and moderate winds from the south.
Lithuania’s government says the prime minister has held a meeting attended by the ministries of transport and internal affairs, as well as the airport operator and emergency services.
It states that the country’s general prosecutor and police department have initiated a “pre-trial investigation” to look into the circumstances.
“All possible causes of the accident are being investigated,” it adds.
Prime minister Ingrida Simonyte says that, despite occurring close to a residential area, casualties on the ground have been avoided.
She says the Vilnius municipal authorities are providing as much assistance as required.
“Services are doing their job,” Simonyte adds. “I strongly request you to trust the abilities of the investigating authorities to conduct the investigation professionally and within the optimal time.
“Only these investigations will answer the questions about the real causes of the incident. Speculation and conjecture will not help to determine the truth.”
