Prime Minister of Lithuania, Simonyte Ingrida has called on residents in the European Baltic country not to draw conclusion yet on the DHL cargo plane that crashed into residential building early morning on Monday just as many have taken to social media to speculate possible act of terrorism which Aviation Investigative experts from United States of America, USA, Germany and Spain have arrived the Baltic state that share border with Russia in the Western Region.

The DHL cargo plane — a Boeing 737-476 operated by Swiftair — had flown into Lithuania from Germany. It crashed in a residential area in Liepkalnis, on the outskirts of the capital, Vilnius.

According to ABC news, on Tuesday, a team of Lithuanian investigators recovered the black boxes from Monday’s deadly cargo plane crash, as they began their probe into what caused the aircraft to go down and worked to clear the crash site.

Adding, Investigators from the US were dispatched to aid in the investigation, officials said. German aviation experts had arrived to help, while Spanish investigators were expected to have arrived Tuesday.

The cargo plane crashed, skidded into a house and burst into flames early Monday on the outskirts of Vilnius Airport in Lithuania, resulting in the death of one crew member.

Three crew members, including the pilot, survived the incident, and 12 residents of the affected house were safely evacuated, according to government official.

In a press release, the airport confirmed the crash, which it said was reported at 5:30am local time.

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s minister of foregin affairs, confirmed on social media site X that one crew member was killed.

Gabrielius Landsbergis said: “Tragically, one crew member is dead and others hospitalised after a DHL cargo aircraft crashed on approach to Vilnius Airport. My condolences to the victims’ families.
The investigation is ongoing and nothing has been ruled out.

On Tuesday, Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted and stated in quote: “Thanks to my dear friend Margus Tsahkna for another chance to visit Estonia, to strengthen our bonds and our region’s security. We agree on the importance of stepping up preparedness to deal with hybrid attacks, and of sticking together in these turbulent times”.

Three others aboard the aircraft survived the crash, including the pilot, according to reports. The crash sent debris flying into a nearby house, but no one on the ground was reportedly injured, officials told Reuters.

The cargo plane, operated by airline Swiftair on behalf of DHL, had taken off from Leipzig, Germany, and was due to land at Vilnius Airport.

Officials were still investigating the cause of the crash and had not yet ruled out that it may be sabotage, according to Reuters and other media reports.

“We cannot reject the possibility of terrorism,” Lithuanian counter-intelligence chief, Darius Jauniskis told reporters, “but at the moment we can’t make attributions or point fingers, because we don’t have such information.”

Lithuanian police and prosecutors had opened a “pre-trial” investigation into the crash, according to Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, whose office held a meeting late Monday on the government response.

Lithuanian police search the area where a DHL cargo plane crashed near the Vilnius International Airport in Vilnius on Nov. 25, 2024.

The government has ordered an investigation under the country’s criminal code, which calls for probes into “‘Improper maintenance or repair of vehicles or roads, or of equipment thereon,’ which provides for liability in the event of loss of life, serious injury to persons or very serious damage to property,” the prime minister’s office said.

“I urge everyone to have confidence in the investigating authorities’ ability to conduct a thorough and professional investigation within an optimal timeframe,” Šimonytė said in a statement. “Only these investigations will uncover the true causes of the incident—speculation and guesswork will not help establish the truth”, Prime Minister Simonyte stated on Monday.

We gathered that the investigation will be led by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Division, with aid from the US National Transportation Safety Board, the board said on Monday.

Simonyte Ingrida statements reads details below: “Early morning started with a major incident. It is natural that in the current geopolitical circumstances, we look at each incident differently than before, however, please refrain from drawing far-reaching conclusions.

The pre-trial investigation has been started, the Police and the Prosecutor General’s Office will comment as much as and when they can without damaging the investigation itself – such is the specifics of the pre-trial inquiry.

Another investigation will also be carried out according to the EU Regulation specifically applicable to such incidents. All institutions really want to find out the truth as soon as possible and need to trust them.

Messages from NKVC about incidents are one of the most difficult moments of the prime minister’s job. But from the moment of the incident, the authorities were spinning as fast as possible.

The hardest part was waiting for the news how many people died and injured there were. Now we know that the people who were on the plane were killed or injured, and on the ground, despite the residential area and intense traffic arteries, only property was affected. Condolences to the relatives of the deceased, I believe our professional medics will help the injured.

The residents of Vilnius have been taken care of by the municipality administration since the beginning of the incident, we are keeping in touch, we will definitely help the municipality – taking care of people, cleaning up the territory, eliminating the consequences of this unusual situation. All local and central government institutions are working.

Once again, I urge you not to hurry to share any version you see on the way. Investigation institutions will definitely do the job professionally and will answer questions. The spread of disinformation only makes the work easier for the unfriendly, whose goal is to sow confusion in the state”.

ABC news network also reported that one of the pilots, who was from Spain, was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was transferred to a local hospital in critical condition, Bozena Jerenkovic, a medical doctor who was part of the emergency team on site, told ABC reporter on Monday. 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, according to the Crisis Centre.