At least one person died and three were injured near Vilnius

At least one person was killed and three others injured after a cargo plane crashed near Vilnius airport in Lithuania early Monday.

Local authorities said the Boeing 737, operated by Spanish airline Swiftair for DHL, crashed near a house while preparing for final landing.

Police said all 12 people were safely evacuated from a house near the crash site.

Rescue authorities said all people on the flight from Leipzig, Germany, have been identified.

According to data from flight tracking website Flightradar24, the plane departed from DHL’s hub at Leipzig Airport just after 03:00 local time (02:00 GMT) and crashed about an hour and a half later.

Flight operations are continuing at Vilnius airport as authorities respond to the crash, Flightradar24 said on X.

Firefighters were seen tackling smoke coming from a building 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) north of the airport runway, Reuters news agency reported.

The cause of the accident is unknown and Lithuanian authorities have begun an investigation.

Authorities said they currently do not have any data to suggest there was an explosion before the accident.

The head of Lithuania’s fire and emergency services unit, Renatas Pozela, said the plane was scheduled to land at Vilnius airport and “crashed a few kilometers away”.

He said another person in the crew of four was killed.

A nearby house was “minorly damaged” and nearby infrastructure caught fire, but all residents were safely evacuated, Pozela said.

An airport spokesman said the plane was a Boeing 737-400.

The weather reported before the crash was 0C (32F), cloudy before sunrise and winds of about 30 km/h (19mph), the Associated Press reported.

AP added that the plane was 31 years old.