Lithuania’s police chief told reporters on Monday that a terrorist attack cannot be considered the reason why a cargo plane crashed near Vilnius airport early in the morning.
“This is one of the translations that need to be analyzed and evaluated. There is still a lot of work ahead of us,” Arūnas Paulauskas said at the press conference.
The investigation of the crime, the collection of evidence, and the gathering of information and materials can take up to a week. Pauluskas said. “These answers don’t come quickly.”
The head of the Lithuanian rescue service, Renatas Pozela, said at a press conference that the plane crashed a few kilometers from the airport, sank hundreds of meters, and its debris hit a residential building. The plane was a cargo plane flying to DHL that had taken off from Leipzig in eastern Germany.
The house had two floors, four apartments, and three families lived there. All 12 residents are safe, Pozela said. The plane’s fire has been extinguished and will not spread.
A spokesman for the Lithuanian rescue service, speaking to the Lithuanian news agency Elta, said the plane was completely destroyed by fire. Six fire engines and a water tanker are at the scene, and a rescue coordination center has been set up.