What's happened
A DHL cargo plane crashed into a house near Vilnius Airport early on November 25, 2024, killing one person and injuring three others on board. The aircraft, operated by Swiftair, was approaching the airport when it went down, sparking a fire and prompting evacuations.
Why it matters
What the papers say
According to The Guardian, the plane was a Boeing 737-400 operated by Swiftair for DHL, which crashed shortly before landing, killing one crew member and injuring three others. The Independent reported that the aircraft fell just over a kilometer from the airport, igniting a fire and damaging a residential house. AP News noted that the weather conditions were around freezing with clouds, which may have contributed to the crash. The New York Times highlighted that the aircraft was 31 years old, raising concerns about the safety of older planes in cargo operations. Overall, the sources provide a consistent narrative about the crash while emphasizing the need for further investigation into its causes.
How we got here
The Boeing 737-400, operated by Swiftair for DHL, took off from Leipzig, Germany, before crashing shortly before landing at Vilnius Airport. The incident occurred amid ongoing investigations into related safety concerns in Germany.
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DHL International GmbH is a German courier, parcel, and express mail service which is a division of the German logistics company Deutsche Post DHL. The company delivers over 1.3 billion parcels per year.
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. Lithuania is one of the Baltic states. The country is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, to the southeast of Sweden and Denmark.
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Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 580,020 as of 2020. The population of Vilnius's functional urban area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 700,275, while according to the Vilnius territori
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The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes at its Renton Factory in Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage cross-section and nose with two und
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe. Covering an area of 357,022 square kilometres, it lies between the Baltic and North seas to the north, and the Alps to the south.