Lithuania Suspects Human Error in Dhl Plane Crash

Lithuania Probes Human Error in DHL Plane Crash

By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuanian prosecutors said on Wednesday they believe that human error was the likely cause of the crash of a DHL cargo airplane in Vilnius in November and have asked Spanish authorities to question the pilot as a suspect.

The Boeing (BA.N) 737-400 cargo jet operated by Spain's Swiftair crashed as it came in to land at Lithuania's Vilnius airport in the early morning of Nov. 25 as it came in to land after a flight from Leipzig in Germany.

The plane split into pieces on hitting the ground, slid over 100 metres (110 yards) and smashed into a house. One person on the aircraft was killed.

"The main version in the plane crash investigation is human error," a statement from the Prosecutor General's Office said.

It had asked Spain to question the pilot, a Spanish national, who is recovering from his injuries there, it said.

"After analysing and summarising the interviews conducted in Lithuania, inspections of the scene, recordings of the aircraft's flight recorders and cockpit conversations, and other data obtained during the investigation, it was determined that the plane crash likely occurred due to a disabled hydraulic system responsible for deploying the flaps," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

It ruled out other versions.

The plane was carrying four crewmembers. A Spanish crewmember was killed and a German and a Lithuanian were injured as well as the pilot.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Angus MacSwan)