Eight crew members killed in Ukraine cargo plane crash in northern Greece

View of the wreckage of an Antonov An-12 cargo aircraft owned by a Ukrainian firm, near Kavala in Greece, 17 July, 2022.

A Ukrainian cargo plane carrying munitions between Serbia and Bangladesh crashed in northern Greece late Saturday night, killing all eight crewmembers, according to Greek and Serbian authorities.

Witnesses claimed that the aircraft crashed in a ball of fire near Kavala, before hitting corn fields at midnight local time. The pilot had earlier reported engine problems and requested an emergency landing.

Drone images showed the scene with smoldering debris from the Antonov An-12 aircraft scattered across fields.

The Ukrainian-based airline Meridian confirmed that the plane had crashed killing all eight crew members. Ukraine's foreign minister said that they were all Ukrainian citizens.

A spokesperson for the civil protection service said that Greek authorities have so far recovered one body from one of their crew members. A local mayor stated that six bodies were found during the initial drone inspection.

Nebojsa Stephenovic, Serbia's Defence Minister, said that the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes worth of products from its defense industry, including mortars and training shells. He said that the Bangladeshi defence ministry was the buyer of the cargo.

Denys Bogdanovych (General Director of Meridian) confirmed that account and said that the crash was unrelated to the current war in Ukraine.

The Greek state television ERT reported that the plane's signal lost shortly after the pilot requested an emergency landing. Amateur video footage uploaded to ertnews.gr showed flames coming down fast and then hitting the ground in what appeared like an explosion.

Aimilia Tatsaptanova, a witness, said to reporters, "I wonder how it didn’t fall on our homes." It was filled with smoke and made a strange noise as it passed over the mountain. It passed the mountain, then turned around and crashed into the fields.

The special disaster response unit, military staff, and mine clearing units were dispatched by the Greek authorities. They advised residents to close their doors and windows and banned them from moving about the area.

Officials from the fire brigade said that on Sunday firefighters felt their lips burning and that white dust was floating in air. Philippos Anastasiades (mayor of the region) said that the substance was not radioactive or biologically hazardous to public health.

Local media reported that some households and businesses in the area experienced power outages after the crash. This could be because the plane might have broken through cables or been burned by the blast. Another explosion occurred the night following the crash.

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