Plane Crashed in Greece Carrying 11 Tons of Mortars, Mines to Bangladesh

A Ukrainian cargo plane that crashed in northern Greece last night was carrying nearly a dozen tons of mortar shells and land mines to the Bangladesh army.

The Antonov An-12 light aircraft had eight Ukrainian crew members, all of which were killed.

An official at cargo firm Meridian told Reuters: 'Of course, they didn't survive this.'

Eyewitnesses filmed the fireball crash in the early hours today, with explosions continuing for two hours and the charred wreckage burning until morning.

Drone images from the scene showed debris from the bulking aircraft strewn in fields.

Serbia's defense minister said the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of products made by its defense industry and the buyer was the Bangladesh defense ministry.

Greek authorities could not provide any more information on the aircraft's cargo.

A special army unit arrived at the site to search for nuclear, biological and chemical substances at 1pm local time (10am GMT).

A lead firefighter told reporters that his crew 'felt their lips burning' at the site, with white dust floating in the air.

'We don't know what has been affecting us,' fire brigade coordinator Marios Apostolidis said.

Serbian defence minister Nebojsa Stefanovic added that the plane's cargo was owned by Serbian company Valir, a trade company registered to perform foreign trade activities of armament military equipment and other defense products.

State TV ERT said that the signal of the aircraft was lost soon after the pilot requested an emergency landing from Greek aviation authorities due to an engine problem.

Amateur video footage showed the aircraft in flames descending fast before hitting the ground in what appeared to be an explosion.

A senior source at Jordan's civil aviation regulatory commission (CARC) denied earlier reports that the plane was headed to Jordan.

The source said that its flight itinerary included a stopover in Jordan's Queen Alia international airport at 9:30 pm to refuel, state news agency Petra reported on Sunday.

The wider area in Greece where the aircraft crashed has been cordoned off since Saturday night.

Residents nearby have been advised to keep windows and doors shut and avoid the area of the incident.

The fire service has cordoned off the area at a radius of about 400m.

The mayor of the municipality of Paggaio, to which the two villages close to the crash belong, closed nearby roads.

Eye-witnesses said the Antonov An-12 was on fire and that they had heard explosions, Athens News Agency reported.

A local man, from the mountainous region, Giorgos Archontopoulos, told state broadcaster ERT television he had felt something was wrong as soon as he heard the aircraft's engine.

'At 10.45pm I was surprised by the sound of the engine of the aircraft,' he said. 'I went outside and saw the engine on fire.'

Locals, who reported seeing a fireball and a plume of smoke, and Greek media think the plane was carrying explosives.