VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — A DHL cargo airplane crashed on strategy to an airport in Lithuania’s capital and skidded right into a home Monday morning, killing a Spanish crew member however not harming anybody on the bottom. The trigger is below investigation.

A surveillance video confirmed the airplane descending usually because it approached the airport earlier than dawn, after which exploding into an enormous ball of fireside behind a constructing. The second of affect couldn’t be seen within the video.

Lithuanian officers acknowledged that one line of inquiry will probably be whether or not Russia performed a job given its suspected involvement in different instances of sabotage — though they careworn that there isn’t any proof pointing to that but.

“Certainly, we can not rule out the terrorism model,” mentioned Darius Jauniškis, chief of Lithuanian intelligence.

Western safety officers suspect that Russian intelligence is finishing up sabotage towards their nations in retaliation for his or her assist for Ukraine — together with arson assaults, disinformation and by placing incendiary gadgets in packages on cargo planes. In July one caught fireplace at a courier hub in Germany and one other ignited in a warehouse in England.

Polish prosecutors mentioned final month that parcels with camouflaged explosives have been despatched by way of cargo corporations to EU nations and Britain to “take a look at the switch channel for such parcels” that have been finally destined for the U.S. and Canada.

“We see Russia turning into extra aggressive,” Jauniškis mentioned. “However for now, we actually can not make any attributions or level fingers at anybody, as a result of there isn’t any details about it.”

The Lithuanian airport authority recognized the plane as a DHL cargo airplane arriving from Leipzig, Germany, a significant freight hub, and one of many injured was a German citizen.

The German transportation ministry mentioned that consultants from the German Federal Bureau of Plane Accident Investigation could be despatched to Lithuania to assist with the investigation. Officers there additionally cautioned towards attempting to attract conclusions earlier than all of the proof has been examined.

“No statements can but be made about the reason for the accident. Whether or not it was an accident or whether or not one other trigger led to the crash of the cargo airplane is the topic of the present investigation,” German Inside Ministry spokesperson Mehmet Atta mentioned at a briefing in Berlin.

The pinnacle of Lithuania’s firefighting service mentioned that the airplane skidded a couple of hundred meters (yards), and photographs confirmed smoke rising from a broken construction in an space of barren timber.

“Fortunately, regardless of the crash occurring in a residential space, no lives have been misplaced among the many native inhabitants,” Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė mentioned after assembly with rescue officers.

Rescue staff sealed off the realm, and fragments of the airplane in DHL’s trademark yellow could possibly be seen amid wreckage scattered throughout the crash website.

The cargo plane was carrying 4 individuals when it crashed at 5:30 a.m. native time. One individual, a Spanish citizen, was declared useless and the opposite three crew members — who have been Spanish, German and Lithuanian residents — have been injured, mentioned Ramūnas Matonis, the top of communications for Lithuanian police, in an electronic mail.

The DHL plane was operated by Swiftair, a Madrid-based contractor. DHL mentioned in an emailed remark that the airplane “made a compelled touchdown” a couple of kilometer (half a much) from the Vilnius airport, including: “The reason for the accident remains to be unknown and an investigation is already underway.” Swiftair didn’t remark.

“Residential infrastructure round the home was on fireplace, and the home was barely broken, however we managed to evacuate individuals,” mentioned Renatas Požėla, chief of the Fireplace and Rescue Division.

One eyewitness, who gave her identify solely as Svaja, ran to a window when a light-weight as vibrant as a purple solar stuffed her room and she or he heard an explosion, adopted by flashes and black smoke.

“I noticed a fireball,” she mentioned. “My first thought is {that a} world (warfare) has begun and it’s time to seize the paperwork and run someplace to a shelter, to a basement.”

Laurynas Kasčiūnas, the Lithuanian protection minister, mentioned “there have been undoubtedly no exterior components that would have broken the airplane.”

“We are able to clearly see that,” Kasčiūnas mentioned. “Nevertheless, to search out out what occurred contained in the airplane, it is going to be essential to interview the surviving crew members. And naturally, the black field. That can take a while.”

Flight-tracking knowledge from FlightRadar24, analyzed by the AP, confirmed the plane made a flip to the north of the airport, lining up for touchdown, earlier than crashing a bit greater than 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) in need of the runway.

Climate on the airport was round freezing on the time of the crash, with clouds earlier than dawn and winds round 30 kph (18 mph).

The Boeing 737 was 31 years previous, which is taken into account by consultants to be an older airframe, although that’s commonplace for cargo flights.

The prime minister cautioned towards hypothesis, saying investigators wanted time to do their job.

“The accountable businesses are working diligently,” Šimonytė mentioned. “I urge everybody to have faith within the investigating authorities’ capability to conduct a radical {and professional} investigation inside an optimum timeframe. Solely these investigations will uncover the true causes of the incident — hypothesis and guesswork is not going to assist set up the reality.”

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This story corrects the title of Renatas Požėla.

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Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Gambrell from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed.