All eight crew members of a Ukrainian cargo plane that crashed near the Greek city of Kavala were killed in the crash.announced the Serbian Defense Minister.
The plane, an Antonov 12, owned by the Ukrainian company Meridian LTD, was carrying around 11 tons of weapons, including mortar mines, to Bangladesh when it crashed on Saturday night, Nebojsa Stefanovic said.
“Unfortunately, according to the information we received, all eight crew members died in the accident,” Stefanovic said at a news conference.
Also read: Heat wave leaves at least 300 deaths in Spain
Denys Bohdanovytch, CEO of Meridian, said that the entire crew was Ukrainian.
The plane took off from Nis airport (southern Serbia) on Saturday around 8:40 p.m. On board he carried weapons from the Serbian company Valir, according to Stefanovic.
Ukrainian plane An-12 crashed tonight in northern Greece. There were eight people on board. pic.twitter.com/o0Jj5ORCQz
— Follow this account for more news (@Irinamar004) July 17, 2022
The pilot requested permission to make an emergency landing at the Greek airport of Kavala, but failed to land in time.
You may be interested in: The United States “will not walk away” from the Middle East: Joe Biden
Greek rescue services used a drone on Sunday to fly over the wreckage of the plane, due to the danger of the cargo.
The Ukrainian consul, Vadim Sabluk, went to the scene of the accident on Sunday.
The Greek news agency said it had provided authorities with the identities of the eight crew members and confirmed that the plane was headed for Bangladesh.
More information: Biden spoke about Khashoggi with the Saudi prince and warned of a response to new attacks on dissidents
The Serbian defense minister said that it was a transaction agreed with the Ministry of Defense of Bangladesh “respecting international rules”.
“Some media outlets said that the plane was supposedly carrying weapons to Ukraine, which is completely false,” he said.
