The minister emphasized that the causes of the incident were being investigated and “the investigation will answer this question.”
What were the causes of the LOT plane accident in Vilnius?
Did the plane's passengers suffer any injuries?
When will Vilnius airport be opened?
Where were the planes flying to Vilnius directed?
The director of Lithuanian Airports (LTOU), Simonas Bartkus, ruled out the possibility that the runway may have been improperly cleaned.
“Flights took place throughout the day, many planes took off and landed, and the runway is being maintained on an ongoing basis (…). According to the information we have, all measures have been taken to maintain the good condition of the runway,” Bartkus assured journalists.
According to Bartkus, the LOT plane landed from the south, rolled to the end of the main runway and, turning onto the runway, slid a few meters.
— Because the plane is too close to the runway, we cannot resume flights without removing it (…). The plane is standing right next to the runway, on the ground, explained the director of LTOU.
The plane veered off the runway while landing
On Wednesday at 13:43 at the airport in Vilnius, a LOT plane that arrived from Warsaw, flight number LO771, veered off the runway while taxiing towards the apron. The Embraer E170STD plane arrived in Vilnius from Warsaw Chopin Airport. According to a spokesman for LOT Polish Airlines, there were 63 passengers on board; everyone exited the plane safely.
“The passengers did not suffer any injuries, the circumstances of the incident are being investigated,” wrote the Lithuanian Airports press release.
Shortly after the incident, a meeting of the Lithuanian Airports Emergency Situations Committee was convened with the participation of the Minister of Transport Juras Taminskas, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and the management of Lithuanian Airports.
Planes flying to Vilnius are diverted to other airports.
