DHL Cargo Plane Crashes Near Airport in Lithuania, Killing 1

A DHL cargo plane crashed in a residential area near Vilnius Airport in Lithuania, killing one person on board, hospitalizing three others and setting a house ablaze, officials said.

The authorities were investigating the cause of the crash, according to Ramunas Matonis, a spokesman for Lithuania’s police department.

The plane had departed from Leipzig, Germany, and crashed just outside Vilnius Airport about 5:30 a.m., the airport said in a statement.

One of the four people on board was killed, Tadas Vasiliauskas, a spokesman for Lithuanian Airports, which manages Vilnius Airport, said in a phone interview.

The plane crashed near a two-story home, burst into flames and set the building on fire, Renata Liaudanskiene, a spokeswoman for Lithuania’s Fire and Rescue Department, said by email. The house’s 12 residents were evacuated and none were injured, she said.

Three people were pulled from the wreckage of the plane and taken to a hospital, Ms. Liaudanskiene said. One is from Lithuania, one from Germany and one from Spain. Two of the people on the plane were pilots, and the other two were passengers, she said.

The fire was contained by about 7:30 a.m., Ms. Liaudanskiene said.

A spokesman for DHL confirmed that an aircraft “made a forced landing” near Vilnius Airport.

“The cause of the accident is still unknown, and an investigation is underway,” the spokesman, Nicholas Leong, said in an email.

He added that the plane was operated for DHL by a third-party carrier, Swiftair, which said in a separate statement that the plane was a Boeing 737-400.