DHL cargo jet crash: flight recorders found in Lithuania amid safety and sabotage concerns

Investigators probing the deadly cargo plane crash in Lithuania found the aircraft’s flight recorders on Tuesday, the justice ministry said, as they sought to establish what caused the disaster.

In addition to the flight data recorder, the voice recorder has also been found and removed from the wreckage, the ministry said.

The DHL plane coming from the German city of Leipzig crashed early on Monday near the Vilnius airport, killing one crew member and raising questions over whether the tragedy could be connected to a recent series of sabotage cases.

Lithuania’s justice ministry said in a statement that the flight recorders were “retrieved from the debris of the plane” at around 11:30am on Tuesday.

Analysis of flight recorder data could supply critical clues over the crash of the aircraft, which skidded several hundred metres before hitting a residential building about one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the airport.

The ministry also said German officials have arrived in Lithuania to assist with the aviation security investigation, and authorities are also awaiting the arrival of experts from the United States and Spain.