Ukrainian freight jet crashes in northern Greece, killing all of the crew members

The crew members on board a Ukrainian cargo plane carrying weapons from Serbia to Bangladesh perished in a late-night crash near the northern Greek city of Kavala, according to Serbian officials and Meridian airline on Sunday.

 

Burning wreckage from the Antonov An-12 aircraft was seen scattered across fields in drone photos taken at the scene.

 

Eight crew members were reportedly on board, according to Greek officials, and all were Ukrainian citizens, according to a representative for the Ukrainian foreign ministry.

 

The aircraft’s operator, the Ukrainian airline Meridian, reported that all of the crew perished in the collision.

 

According to Serbia’s defence minister, the aircraft was carrying 11.5 tonnes of defense-related goods, including mortar and practise shells. He said that Bangladesh’s defence government was the cargo’s buyer.

 

Meridian’s general manager, Denys Bogdanovych, backed up Serbia’s version of events. In a telephone interview with Reuters, Bogdanovych stated, ‘this is not tied to Russia or Ukraine.’

 

Around midnight local time, according to witnesses, the plane crashed in a ball of flames before exploding on impact in cornfields. The pilot had already requested an emergency landing after reporting engine issues.

 

Information about the crew or the cargo of the aeroplane was not available from Greek authorities. While the local government announced a prohibition on anyone travelling in the vicinity, the special disaster response team and army experts were sent to the scene.

 

Nebojsa Stefanovic, Serbia’s minister of defence, said the shipment contained training shells and illumination mortar rounds. It had left Serbia’s Nis at 18:40 GMT on Saturday.

 

‘11.5 tonnes of goods from our defence industry were brought on board. The Bangladesh Defense Ministry was the purchaser,’ said Stefanovic.

 

He claimed that the Serbian corporation Valir, which is authorised to engage in the export of armaments, military hardware, and other defence supplies, owned the plane’s cargo.

 

Greek state television ERT said that shortly after the pilot asked Greek aviation authorities for an emergency landing because of an engine issue, the aircraft’s communication was lost.