Ukrainian cargo plane carrying weapons and explosives crashes in Greece

Europe, News July 18, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

A Ukrainian airline company’s cargo plane carrying weapons and explosives crashed in northern Greece killing all eight of its crew members

A privately operated Ukrainian-made Antonov plane was en route from Serbia to Bangladesh. According to the Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, the plane was transporting standard military equipment including illuminating mortar shells and training shells by Valir, a Serbian weapons manufacturer. “Sadly, according to the information we have received, the eight members of the crew died in the crash.” He said during a news conference. The plane crashed near Eleftheroupoli in Greece’s northeastern Kavala region.

According to local media reports from Greece, the aircraft was carrying ‘dangerous cargo’ of military equipment. Greek authorities have cleared the crash as they are raising concerns about the weapons and equipment that was being carried on the plane.

Some local villagers who witnessed the crash stated that the plane was on fire as it was crashing, indicating that an internal blast might have led to the plane’s crash. A video circulating on social media was made minutes before the crash, the video shows the plane engulfed in flames before it hits the ground in an open field.

An Antonov AN-12BK Cargo Aircraft Crashed in Northern Kavala, Greece.
The aircraft was transporting military cargo, weapons and explosives from Serbia to Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/ShWdYxHjf9
— IRIA (@IRIA_Research) July 17, 2022

51 years old Antonov AN-12BK was registered under the number UR-CIC. The plane was serving as a cargo transportation aircraft for Meridian Cargo Ltd. The aircraft was operating flight number MEM3032, carrying 11 tonnes of military equipment to Bangladesh. It took off from Serbia’s Nis airport at around 8:40 P.M. local time and crashed around 10:45 P.M. local time.

General director of Meridian Cargo Ltd. Denys Bogdanovych, said that a Ukrainian airline company was operating the plane and the crew members were all Ukrainian.

The plane was set to make a stop in Amman, Jordan before heading off to Bangladesh. The flight trajectory shows that the aircraft made a U-turn midway before crashing in Greece. So far, no official cause of the accident has been reported by officials.

*^{The flight trajectory of the crashed Antonov plane, which was en route from Serbia to Bangladesh. (Image Credit: FlightRadar)}*

According to the Greek media reports army units, explosives experts, and Greek Atomic Energy Commission staff approached the area under the concerns that the crashed plane might be carrying toxic or radioactive material. The area was soon deemed to be safe from any kind of toxicity or radioactive anomaly.

Greek fire brigade official told the media that “Men from the fire service with special equipment and measuring instruments approached the point of impact of the aircraft and had a close look at the fuselage and other parts scattered in the fields.”

The local administration and fire service officials asked the local inhabitants of the adjoining areas to take precautions. They were asked to keep their windows shut all night and advised not to leave their homes and to wear masks.