Official: Ukrainian cargo plane carrying mines crashes near Kavala, Greece

All eight crew members on board flight MEM3032 were killed in the accident, Meridian CEO Denys Bogdanovych Tell German news outlet Deutsche Welle. Ukrainian officials confirmed The crew members were all Ukrainian citizens. “This has nothing to do with Ukraine or Russia,” Bogdanovich said Tell Reuters on Sunday.

The Associated Press reported that the pilot reported a problem with one of the plane’s engines and requested an emergency landing mentionedQuoted from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority.

Early Sunday, Greek emergency medics planned to secure and disinfect the crash site and investigate smoke from the burning plane to determine its toxicity.

This is what Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said The payload of the aircraft included lighting mortar mines and training mines, according to To the Serbian public broadcasting station RTS.

Videos Pictures posted by residents on social media appeared to show the plane burning in the sky before crashing into a spectacular fireball.

Stefanovic on Sunday denied the idea that the plane was transporting weapons to Ukraine. He said the plane was carrying 11.5 tons of equipment purchased by Bangladesh from the Serbian defense and armament company Valer.

The aircraft planned to make a series of “technical landings” in Amman, Jordan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and Ahmedabad, India, before reaching its final destination in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. These stops, in which no passengers or cargo are unloaded, are most common for refueling the aircraft or dealing with a minor technical issue.

Valerie could not be immediately reached for comment early Sunday.

Emergency responders were flying drones over the crash site Sunday to determine if it was safe to enter dozens of firefighters and experts to put out the fires, investigate the aircraft’s contents and begin removing debris, which appeared in the drone footage circulating. over a wide area.

Greek public radio ERT mentioned That a technical team of 14 nuclear, biological and chemical experts of the Greek army was sent to Kavala from Megara, in southern Greece, via a CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Military demining battalions headed to the area on Sunday, according to Ertal’s team.

Emergency responders found local fires near the crash site, intense smoke and heat “as well as a white substance of unknown origin,” fire chief Marius Apostolidis said. “However, the measuring instruments did not show anything alarming,” Apostolidis reportedly said.

Authorities previously asked residents to stay indoors, keep doors and windows closed and turn off their air conditioners so those on the ground could confirm what was burning. Apostolides Tell ERT that he and his team “felt burns on the lips and tongue” while they were near the crash site.

Flight MEM3032 left Nis, in southern Serbia, at 8:36 p.m. local time on Saturday, according to To Flightradar24 to track flights. Its registered destination was Amman, Jordan. “It was crossing the Aegean when it turned back towards Greece” just under an hour later, Flightradar24 said. It crashed west of Kavala at 10:47 pm local time.

Greece’s aviation authorities said the pilot alerted them to a problem with one of the plane’s engines. He was told he could land at the airport in Thessaloniki or in Kavala, and chose Kavala for the emergency landing because it was closer, The Associated Press mentionedQuoting the Greek authorities. At 10:47 p.m. local time, the plane sent its last satellite signal, according to the flight tracking website.