Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic announced on Sunday that all crew members Antonov cargo plane The eight that crashed Saturday evening near the town of Paliochori Kavalas in northern Greece were killed.
Stefanovic said in a press conference that the plane, owned by the Ukrainian company Meridian LTD, was carrying regarding 11 tons of weapons, including illuminated mortar mines, to Bangladesh, according to AFP.
He added, “As for the identities of the crew members, I think they are Ukrainians too, but we have no information on the matter, they are not Serbs.”
‘agreed deal’
It is noteworthy that the plane took off from Nice Airport (southern Serbia) on Saturday around 20.40 (18.40 GMT). The exporter of these weapons is the private Serbian company Valer.
The minister also stressed that it was an agreed deal with the Bangladeshi Ministry of Defense “in accordance with international rules”. “Unfortunately, some media outlets claimed that the flight was transporting weapons to Ukraine, which is absolutely not true,” he said.
From the wreckage of the plane (AFP)
“no connection”
He added that since 2016, when every arms request began to be registered electronically, Serbia has not issued any permit to export any arms to Ukraine or Russia. He stressed that the majority of cargo planes transporting weapons are of Soviet production and owned by Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
With international sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus over the military operation in Ukraine, only Ukrainian transport aircraft are “active all over the world.” “Apart from the fact that they are owned by Ukrainian companies, there is no connection between the goods and Ukraine,” the minister noted.
These statements come following the official Greek TV channel ERT reported on Saturday that the plane, an Antonov AN-12 owned by a Ukrainian company, was heading from Serbia to Jordan. She said the pilot requested an emergency landing due to an engine problem, but the plane’s signal was lost.
Jordan clarifies
On the other hand, the Jordanian government stated that the plane’s final destination was not Jordan, but Bangladesh.
It also revealed that the flight crew requested permission to refuel from Jordan.
like an “explosion”
In addition, video clips were uploaded to the ERT website. News on the Internet The plane was quickly descending, blazing, and then crashing into the ground in what appeared to be an explosion, according to Archyde.com.
The fire brigade said in a statement that it deployed 15 of its men and seven fire engines to extinguish the fire that broke out following the accident. While more rescuers went to the crash site.
