Annual Report

The year 2025 in the field of safety investigations was marked not only by accidents and incidents and their investigations, but also by organizational changes.

On 1 January 2025, the Safety Investigations Law of the Republic of Lithuania entered into force, establishing that the safety investigation function shall be carried out by an autonomous and independent structural of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania – the Safety Investigation Division. In addition to the previously conducted safety investigations of civil aircraft, ship, and railway accidents and incidents, this law entrusts the Safety Investigation Division with conducting safety investigations of accidents and incidents involving State aircraft and ships, inland waterway vessels, and cableway installations, as well as road traffic accidents involving injury or death.

With the entry into force of the Safety Investigations Law, the organizational principles of safety investigations have also changed – instead of investigators-in-charge who were previously assigned in advance to specific transport sectors, starting in 2025, the head of the structural unit conducting safety investigations appoints, from among the civil servants and employees working under employment contracts in that unit, an investigator-in-charge to organize, conduct, and supervise the safety investigation and, if necessary, a safety investigator (or investigators), who must have professional knowledge, experience, and competence in the specific transport sector in which the safety investigation of an accident or incident is being conducted. To implement these and other provisions of the Safety Investigations Law, the Safety Investigation Division has welcomed new investigators to its team.

The growth of the Safety Investigation Division is also important for ensuring a response to notifications of accidents or incidents, which may be received at any time. In 2025, 155 notifications about transportation occurrences were received. Of these, 141 fell within the jurisdiction of the Safety Investigation Division.

Details on the time of receipt of notifications in 2025 are presented in the notification date and time distribution chart. The horizontal axis shows the time of received notifications about occurrences and the vertical – the date of the notification. Notifications received during the Safety Investigation Division’s working hours – that is, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays – are marked in blue, while notifications received outside of working hours – that is, after hours, on weekends, during holidays, and so on – are marked in red. 70 notifications, or 45.2 percent, were received during the Safety Investigation Division’s working hours, while 85 notifications, or 54.8 percent, were received outside of working hours.

In total, 141 notifications about accidents and incidents were received in 2025, including 16 aircraft accidents and incidents, 25 ship accidents and incidents, 41 railway accidents and incidents, and 58 road traffic accidents in which at least one person was fatally injured.

More detailed information on activities in 2025 for each transport sector is provided below.

In 2025, 16 reports were received about the aircraft accidents and serious incidents that occurred in Lithuania, of which one involved commercial aircraft, three involved hot-air balloons, two involved gliders, and the rest involved other aircraft. There were no fatalities in the three aircraft accidents that occurred, but three people were seriously injured.

In 2025, one notification was received about an accident that occurred outside Lithuania and involved aircraft registered in the Republic of Lithuania. In 2025, three notifications were received about accidents that occurred outside Lithuania and involved aircraft designed and manufactured in Lithuania.

In 2025, four accident and serious incident safety investigations were initiated. In 2025, safety investigation reports were also published for four accidents and serious incidents.

A marine accident or incident always consists of at least one accident event involving a ship, or at least one event in which a person is injured. When providing statistical information, it is appropriate to categorize marine accidents and incidents into those involving ships and those resulting in injuries (minor, serious, or fatal). A more severe marine accident is often a sequence of several accident events involving ships and events in which people were injured.

If an accident or incident is a sequence of several events, only one event, the most significant one, is assigned to the accident (incident) category in the statistics presented here. For example, if a towing line broke during a ship towing operation, causing the vessel to contact a quay and damage its hull, the accident category indicated is contact.

A total of 25 notifications were received regarding marine accidents and incidents that occurred in 2025. These marine accidents and incidents involved 27 ships.

Of the 25 accidents and incidents registered in 2025, 20 occurred within the waters of the Klaipėda State Seaport, the inland waters belonging to the Republic of Lithuania, or the territorial sea of the Republic of Lithuania, while 5 accidents occurred in areas outside the jurisdiction of the Republic of Lithuania.

In 2025, safety investigations were initiated into two very serious marine accidents. In 2025, the safety investigation report for one very serious marine accident was also published, and four safety recommendations were issued.

In 2025, 41 notifications were received about railway accidents and railway incidents that occurred on the railway infrastructure of all gauges located in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania. 46 preliminary assessments were made regarding the initiation of a safety investigation into railway accidents or railway incidents.

In 2025, two notifications were received about railway occurrences that occurred outside the territory of the Republic of Lithuania but are related to railway rolling stock registered in the Republic of Lithuania or a railway undertaking established in the Republic of Lithuania.

In 2025, eight notifications were received about railway occurrences that, after a preliminary assessment, did not fall within the scope of the Law on Safety Investigations.

In 2025, 138 road user fatalities were recorded.

In May 2025, the Safety Investigation Division began conducting safety investigations in the field of road transport.

During this period, the division assessed the circumstances of 61 traffic accidents in which 68 road users were killed.

After completing these accident assessments, the Safety Investigation Division launched three safety investigations in 2025.

Regarding the three traffic accidents, the Safety Investigation Division, on its own initiative, contacted the road owners with proposals to improve traffic management on the road sections where the accidents occurred. Positive responses were received from the road owners, and they promised to initiate changes.

Of all the road traffic accidents assessed in 2025, the majority involved collisions between motor vehicles – 27 accidents. Accidents in which a vehicle veered off the road or collided with pedestrians were also common. Among vehicle collisions, the majority involved head-on collisions.