Drone footage from the scene showed smoldering wreckage from the Antonov An-12 jet strewn across fields. Greek authorities said there were eight crew members on board, and a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said they were all Ukrainian citizens. Ukraine-based Meridian Airlines, which operated the plane, said all crew members were killed in the crash. Serbia’s defense minister said the plane was carrying 11.5 tons of products, including mortars and training shells, made by its defense industry. The buyer of the cargo was Bangladesh’s defense ministry, he said. Denis Bogdanovic, Meridian’s general manager, confirmed Serbia’s account of events. “This is not related to Ukraine or Russia,” Bogdanovich told Reuters by telephone. Witnesses said the aircraft went down in flames before exploding after impacting a cornfield around midnight local time. Earlier the pilot had reported engine trouble and requested an emergency landing. Debris is seen at the crash site of an Antonov An-12 cargo plane (REUTERS) Greek authorities were unable to provide information on the aircraft’s cargo or crew. The special disaster response unit and army experts were sent to the scene, while local authorities banned the movement of people in the area. Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said the cargo included mortar flares and training missiles. It had taken off at 1840 GMT on Saturday from Nis, Serbia. “The plane was carrying 11.5 tons of products of our defense industry. The buyer was the Ministry of Defense of Bangladesh,” Stefanovic said. He said the aircraft’s cargo belonged to the Serbian company Valir, a company registered to carry out foreign trade activities in military equipment and other defense products. Greek state television ERT reported that the plane’s signal was lost immediately after the pilot requested an emergency landing from Greek aviation authorities due to engine trouble. The crash site near the city of Kavala (REUTERS) Amateur video uploaded to ertnews.gr shows the burning aircraft descending rapidly before impacting the ground in what appeared to be an explosion. “I wonder how it didn’t fall on our houses,” one witness, Emilia Chaptanova, told reporters. “It was full of smoke, it had a noise I can’t describe and it went over the mountain. It went over the mountain and turned around and fell into the fields.” A senior source at Jordan’s civil aviation regulatory body denied initial reports that the plane was headed for Jordan. The source said her flight’s itinerary included a stopover at Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport at 9:30 p.m. (0630 GMT), for refueling, the state-run Petra news agency reported on Sunday. It was also due to stop in Riyadh and Ahmedabad in India before heading to Dhaka, Serbia’s defense minister said. Reuters
