Lithuanian police identified the person killed as a Spanish crew member who was not one of the pilots. The three injured occupants were reported to be a German, a Lithuanian and another Spaniard. Officials had not immediately provided a clear account of their medical conditions.
Emergency services received the alert at about 5:28 a.m. local time, or 3:28 GMT. The aircraft skidded for several hundred metres after hitting the ground, and debris reached the grounds of a residential property. Rescue service chief Renatas Pozela said the building was slightly damaged and nearby infrastructure caught fire. Twelve residents were evacuated, but no one on the ground was reported killed. Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas said the aircraft narrowly missed the house and struck its courtyard.
The cause was not known. Lithuanian officials said investigators would examine multiple possibilities, including terrorism, but they had presented no evidence that sabotage or an intentional act caused the crash. Police chief Arunas Paulauskas warned that examining the scene, collecting evidence and reviewing recovered material could take about a week. Intelligence chief Darius Jauniskis likewise said terrorism could not yet be excluded.
DHL said the Swiftair aircraft made an emergency landing while travelling from Leipzig to Vilnius. The company opened an investigation and said it had no information suggesting that suspicious parcels were aboard. Boeing said it was gathering information and was prepared to assist. German investigators were in contact with domestic and foreign parties.
Early flight information appeared consistent with a normal approach until the aircraft encountered difficulty near the ground, aviation lecturer Vinca Snirpunas told DW. He said there was no early indication of deliberate action, while noting an apparent lack of contact with the airport tower. That assessment was preliminary and did not establish a cause.
The crash drew particular scrutiny because European security agencies had previously investigated incendiary devices sent through parcel networks. German authorities had warned in August about unconventional incendiary objects after a package ignited at DHL’s Leipzig hub in July; other devices burned at courier facilities near Warsaw and Birmingham. Those separate investigations formed part of the security context, but officials had not linked them to the Vilnius crash. Determining whether the aircraft suffered an accident, operational failure or deliberate interference remained the task of the formal inquiry.
