Berlin, 26 November 2024 (dpa/MIA) — Investigators in Lithuania have recovered the black boxes of the cargo aircraft that crashed near Vilnius airport on Monday, killing one person, as the search for the cause of the crash continues.

In addition to the flight data recorder, the voice recorder has also been found and removed from the wreckage, the Lithuanian Justice Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The so-called black boxes could provide information about the cause of the crash.

Lithuania's police chief Arūnas Paulauskas also said on Tuesday that he expects the investigation of the crash site to be completed in a few days.

"I think that the on-site inspection can be completed within the next two to three days. Then a new phase will follow: the removal of the aircraft debris from the site. We are currently actively looking for a hangar where we can store these parts," Paulauskas said at a press conference in Vilnius.

The Swift Air plane, which was flying from Leipzig to Vilnius for German logistics giant DHL, crashed near Vilnius airport early on Monday morning, just a few metres from a residential building.

German experts are involved in the investigation, and investigators from Spain and the United States are also expected to arrive in Lithuania.

Appeal for information

Paulauskas on Tuesday appealed for help from the public in Vilnius: "If anyone has videos that could be useful for the investigation, please share them with the police," he said, according to a report by Lithuanian radio.

Videos could be uploaded onto a police portal and made available to investigators, the police chief said.

According to a representative of the prosecutor general's office in Vilnius, investigators have interviewed 19 people as witnesses so far. Police have also scanned the airport and crash site with a drone.

The runway of Vilnius airport was closed for an hour from 10 am (0800 GMT) on Tuesday as part of the investigation, an airport representative confirmed to dpa.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, who visited the crash site on Monday, said the suspicion of a possible act of sabotage should not be overemphasized but it could not yet be ruled out, in comments on Lithuanian radio on Tuesday morning.

"This is being investigated with all seriousness," he said.

Previous warnings

The crash attracted a great deal of attention, especially in light of warnings issued by German security authorities in August about "unconventional incendiary devices" being sent by unknown individuals using parcel service providers.

The warning was reportedly linked in security circles to an incident at the DHL logistics centre in Leipzig, which serves as the company's global hub. In July, a package sent from the Baltic States, which reportedly contained an incendiary device, is said to have caught fire there.

Paulauskas has said the circumstances of the accident showed that the incident was probably not caused by an external influence.