A LOT Polish Airlines plane slid off the runway at Vilnius airport in Lithuania on Wednesday, prompting officials to close the runway.
Flight LO771 from Warsaw touched down at 1.34pm local time before veering off the runway while taxiing toward the stand.
“All passengers have been safely disembarked, transferred to the terminal, collected their baggage, and have already departed the airport,” Tadas Vasiliauskas from Lithuanian Airports confirmed to The Independent.
“According to initial reports, no injuries have been identified,” he added.
“The runway at Vilnius airport remains temporarily closed until 5pm.”
Images posted on social media appeared to show the airport covered in heavy snow. On Tuesday, the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service warned that travellers should postpone travel as inclement weather hit the country, noting that temperatures would reach freezing.
“An Embraer 170 aircraft, registration SP-LDK, operating a LOT Polish Airlines service from Warsaw to Vilnius, left the paved surface of the taxiway during the final phase of the landing roll,” read a statement from LOT Polish Airlines shared with The Independent.
“There were 63 passengers and four crew members on board.
“After landing, all passengers safely disembarked normally via mobile stairs and were subsequently transported to the terminal.”
It continued: “Flight LO772 from Vilnius has been cancelled. LOT Polish Airlines’ technical services, in cooperation with Vilnius airport operational services, are currently assessing the situation.”
The Polish flag carrier added that further information regarding subsequent LOT Polish Airlines services to Vilnius would be communicated in due course.
The news follows the decision by Lithuanian authorities to close Vilnius airport six times in October due to weather balloons flying in its vicinity.
Weather balloons are uncrewed balloons officially used to transmit weather data to meteorologists.
Lithuanian authorities said that the balloons had been sent by smugglers transporting contraband cigarettes.
It also blamed Belarus’s president, Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, for not stopping the practice.
“According to preliminary information, the decision to restrict the airspace was made due to a balloon (or balloons) flying in the direction of Vilnius Airport,” the airport said.
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