Crew killed as Ukraine cargo plane carrying munitions crashes in Greece

A Ukrainian cargo airplane carrying munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh crashed close to town of Kavala in northern Greece late on Saturday, killing the crew members on board, Serbian authorities and Meridian airline stated on Sunday.

Drone pictures from the scene confirmed smouldering particles from the Antonov An-12 plane strewn in fields. Greek authorities stated there have been eight crew members on board and a Ukrainian international ministry spokesman stated they had been all Ukrainian residents.

Ukrainian-based airline Meridian, which operated the plane, stated all of the crew members had been killed within the crash.

Serbia’s defence minister stated the airplane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of merchandise, together with mortar and coaching shells, made by its defence trade. The customer of the cargo was the defence ministry of Bangladesh, he stated.

Denys Bogdanovych, Meridian’s normal director, confirmed Serbia’s account of occasions. “This isn’t associated to Ukraine or Russia,” Bogdanovych advised Reuters by phone.

Witnesses stated the plane got here down in a ball of flames earlier than exploding on affect in corn fields round midnight native time. Earlier the pilot had reported engine bother and had requested an emergency touchdown.

Greek authorities couldn’t present info on the plane’s cargo or the crew. The particular catastrophe response unit and military specialists had been dispatched to the scene, whereas native authorities issued a ban on folks shifting within the space.

Serbia’s defence minister Nebojsa Stefanovic stated the cargo included illuminating mortar shells and coaching shells. It had taken off at 1840 GMT Saturday from Nis in Serbia.

“The airplane carried 11.5 tonnes of merchandise made by our defence trade. The customer was the Bangladesh defence ministry,” Stefanovic stated.

He stated the airplane’s cargo was owned by Serbian firm Valir, an organization registered to carry out international commerce actions of armament army gear and different defence merchandise.

Greek state TV ERT stated the plane’s sign was misplaced quickly after the pilot requested an emergency touchdown from Greek aviation authorities as a consequence of an engine drawback.

Novice video footage uploaded on ertnews.gr confirmed the plane in flames descending quick earlier than hitting the bottom in what seemed to be an explosion.

“I’m wondering the way it did not fall on our homes,” one witness, Aimilia Tsaptanova, advised reporters. “It was stuffed with smoke, it had a noise I am unable to describe and went over the mountain. It handed the mountain and turned and crashed into the fields.”

A senior supply at Jordan’s civil aviation regulatory fee denied preliminary reviews that the airplane was headed to Jordan. The supply stated that its flight itinerary included a stopover in Jordan’s Queen Alia worldwide airport at 9:30 pm (0630 GMT), to refuel, state information company Petra reported on Sunday.

It was additionally as a consequence of cease in Riyadh and Ahmedabad in India earlier than heading to Dhaka, Serbia’s defence minister stated.

Reuters