By New York Post (World News) | Created at 2024-11-26 21:05:06 | Updated at 2024-11-29 10:31:06
2 days ago
Officials have released chilling audio of Monday’s deadly crash of a DHL cargo plane into a home in Lithuania — with the recording revealing the moment the air-traffic control tower realizes the ill-fated flight has been lost.
“We just got a crash of an aircraft, a Boeing 737,” an air-traffic controller says somberly, warning other planes not to take off.
“Cancel your start-up and go back to your stand,” the controller adds.
The audio was recorded around 5:30 p.m. local time, after the DHL plane crashed less than a mile from the airport. The doomed jet narrowly missed a highway and landed in a wooded region before skidding straight into a residential area.
Surveillance video has shown the plane descending normally as it approached the airport and then exploding into a huge ball of fire behind a building.
The crash killed a Spanish crew member but did not injure anyone on the ground. Three other crew members survived the crash and are being treated for their injuries.
The crash occurred at a time that Western security officials suspect that Russian intelligence is carrying out sabotage against their nations in retaliation for their support for Ukraine, including through arson attacks and disinformation campaigns — and by putting incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes.
Polish prosecutors said last month that parcels with camouflaged explosives were transported by cargo companies to EU countries and Britain to “test the transfer channel for such parcels” that were ultimately destined for the US and Canada.
Lithuanian officials stress that there is no evidence of terrorism in Monday’s crash but have acknowledged that one line of inquiry will be whether Russia played a role, given its suspected involvement in other cases of sabotage.
“Without a doubt, we cannot rule out the terrorism version,” said Darius Jauniškis, chief of Lithuanian intelligence.
“We see Russia becoming more aggressive,” he said. “But for now, we really cannot make any attributions or point fingers at anyone because there is no information about it.
