Vilnius Airport authorities reported the facility would close for an hour on Tuesday morning as part of an investigation into Monday’s fatal air crash.
The Boeing 737-476(SF), en route to the Lithuanian capital from Leipzig in Germany and operated by DHL, crashed as it came into land early on Monday morning.
During the airport’s temporary closure, between 1000 and 1100 local time, police will use drones to film the area as part of their investigation into the incident, national broadcaster LRT reported, citing flight management company Oro Navigacija. The hour was chosen to minimize disruption to the airport’s operations.
Up to four flights will be cancelled and passengers booked onto services scheduled for Tuesday morning have been advised to contact their airlines for guidance.
The closure will come as questions continue to be raised as to the cause of the crash, with Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, suggesting the possibility of foul play.
“We must now seriously ask ourselves whether this was an accident or whether it was another hybrid incident,” she was quoted by the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper as saying.
During the airport’s temporary closure, between 1000 and 1100 local time, police will use drones to film the area as part of their investigation into the incident, national broadcaster LRT reported, citing flight management company Oro Navigacija. The hour was chosen to minimize disruption to the airport’s operations.
Up to four flights will be cancelled and passengers booked onto services scheduled for Tuesday morning have been advised to contact their airlines for guidance.
The closure will come as questions continue to be raised as to the cause of the crash, with Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, suggesting the possibility of foul play.
“We must now seriously ask ourselves whether this was an accident or whether it was another hybrid incident,” she was quoted by the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper as saying.
A recent spate of fires and other incidents, including the severing of underwater communications cables in the Baltic Sea, have been widely attributed to Russia as part of its ‘hybrid war’ tactics.
Earlier this year an incendiary device caught fire at the DHL hub in Leipzig as it was being loaded onto an aircraft, in an attack blamed on Russian saboteurs.
“The German authorities are working very closely with the Lithuanian authorities to get to the bottom of this,” Baerbock continued.
However, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said no evidence had yet been found to indicate explosives aboard the aircraft.
The Lithuanian defense minister, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, concurred that to date there are “no signs or evidence suggesting this was sabotage or a terrorist act.”
Earlier this year an incendiary device caught fire at the DHL hub in Leipzig as it was being loaded onto an aircraft, in an attack blamed on Russian saboteurs.
“The German authorities are working very closely with the Lithuanian authorities to get to the bottom of this,” Baerbock continued.
However, Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said no evidence had yet been found to indicate explosives aboard the aircraft.
The Lithuanian defense minister, Laurynas Kasčiūnas, concurred that to date there are “no signs or evidence suggesting this was sabotage or a terrorist act.”
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