Cargo plane crashes near Vilnius Airport, killing one

A cargo plane crashed into a house near the Lithuanian capital on Monday morning, leaving at least one person dead.

According to Lithuania’s public broadcaster LRT, two people were rushed to hospital following the incident, but one of them later died. The plane struck a two-storey house near Vilnius International Airport.

The Lithuanian airport authority identified the aircraft as a DHL cargo plane travelling from Leipzig, Germany. In a statement on the social media platform X, it said emergency crews, including fire services, were at the scene.

Flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24, reviewed by The Associated Press, showed that the aircraft turned north of Vilnius Airport, aligning for landing before crashing just over 1.5 kilometres short of the runway.

The crash occurred shortly before 5:30 am local time, but the cause remains unknown. Weather conditions at the time were near freezing, with pre-dawn cloud cover and winds of around 30 kph.

DHL Group, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, has not responded to requests for comment.

The plane was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor, which also could not be reached immediately.

The aircraft, a Boeing 737, was 31 years old—an age that aviation experts consider older but not uncommon for cargo planes.