VILNIUS: A DHL cargo plane crashed on Monday near the Lithuanian capital’s airport, killing one crew member, but authorities stopped short of linking the tragedy to a recent series of sabotage cases.

Lithuanian officials have in past weeks probed alleged acts of incendiary devices being planted on cargo planes.

The plane, which had arrived from the German city of Leipzig, crashed about one kilometer (0.6 miles) from Vilnius airport having hit several buildings as it skidded several hundreds metres, according to the police and the DHL company.

Images from the crash site showed debris from the plane and packages on fire scattered across a residential area cordoned off by the emergency services.

“So far, there are no signs or evidence suggesting this was sabotage or a terrorist act,” Defence Minister Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters, adding the probe to establish the cause could take “about a week”.

“We cannot rule out the case of terrorism. We have warned that such things are possible, we see an increasingly aggressive Russia… but we cannot make any attributions or point fingers yet,” State Security Department chief Darius Jauniskis said.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024