All eight crew members of the Antonov cargo plane that crashed on Saturday night near the northern Greek town of Paleochori Kavalas were killed in the accident, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa reported on Sunday. Stefanović.
The Antonov 12, owned by the Ukrainian company Meridian LTD, was carrying about 11 tons of weapons, including lighting mortar mines, bound for Bangladesh, the minister said. “As for the identity of the crew, I think they are also Ukrainians, but we have no information on this issue, they are not Serbs,” Stefanovic told a news conference. The plane took off from Nis airport (southern Serbia) on Saturday around 8:40 p.m. (18:40 GMT).
The exporter of these weapons is the private Serbian company Valir. The minister insisted that it was an agreement with the Bangladesh Ministry of Defense “in accordance with international standards”. “Unfortunately, some media have speculated that this flight was allegedly carrying weapons to Ukraine, which is completely false,” he said.
Since 2016, when all arms orders are listed electronically, Serbia has not issued any authorization to export weapons to Ukraine or Russia, Stefanovic has said. According to the minister, most cargo planes carrying weapons are Soviet-made and are in the possession of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
With Russia and Belarus under international sanctions due to the conflict in Ukraine, only Ukrainian transport planes are active and “engaged around the world”. “Apart from the fact that they are owned by Ukrainian companies, there is no other link between these products and Ukraine,” the minister said.
The Antonov crashed on Saturday night near the town of Paleochori Kavalas. Witnesses saw the plane on fire and heard explosions, the Athens News reported. According to media reports, the plane had just applied for an emergency landing permit at Greece’s Kavala airport, but was unable to complete the maneuver in time.
The Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority has also stated this Sunday that the Ukrainian cargo plane with eight crew members on board that crashed last night in Greece had Bangladesh as its final destination and not Jordan, where it was only going to refuel.
“An official source from the Jordanian Civil Aviation Authority said that the Antonov An-12 cargo plane that crashed on Saturday night in northern Greece and was coming from Serbia did not have Jordan as its final destination,” according to the report. official Jordanian news agency Petra.
The source said the plane “requested permission to stop over in Jordan around 9:30 p.m. to refuel, before taking off for its final destination, which was Bangladesh.”
According to the ANA-MPA news agency, which cites sources close to the Greek Civil Aviation Authority, the pilot of the wrecked plane, an Antonov An-12, had reported an engine failure for which he requested authorization for a landing. but failed to reach any airport because one of its propellers caught fire, and crashed shortly after.
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