A Ukrainian cargo plane carrying ammunition from Serbia to Bangladesh crashed in northern Greece on Saturday night, killing all eight crew members on board, Greek and Serbian authorities said on Sunday.
Witnesses said the plane crashed in a fireball near the town of Kavala before hitting a cornfield and exploding around midnight local time.
The pilot had previously reported an engine problem and called for an emergency landing.
Drone images from the scene showed the wreckage of the Antonov An-12 plane scattered across the field.
Ukrainian airline Meridian, which operates the plane, confirmed that all eight crew members were killed in the crash.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said they were all Ukrainian citizens.
A civil protection spokesman said Greek authorities had so far recovered the body of a crew member. A local mayor said six bodies were found during an initial drone inspection of the area.
Serbian Defense Minister Neboisa Stefanovic said the plane was carrying 11.5 tons of products, including mortars and practice grenades made by its defense industry. He added that the buyer of the goods was the Bangladesh Ministry of Defense.
Meridian's general manager Denys Bogdanovych confirmed the report and said the crash had nothing to do with the war currently raging in Ukraine.
Greek state TV ERT said the plane's signal was lost shortly after the pilot called for an emergency landing. Amateur video footage uploaded to ertnews.gr shows the plane set on fire, descending rapidly, and then hitting the ground in what appears to be an explosion.
"I wonder why it didn't land on our house," witness Emilia Chaptanova told reporters. "It was full of smoke and it made a noise that I can't describe, and it went over the hill. It went over the hill and turned and crashed into the field."
Greek authorities said special civil defense forces and military personnel, including demining units, had been dispatched to the scene. They banned people from moving around the area and advised residents to close doors and windows.
A fire official said Sunday that firefighters "felt their lips burning" with white dust floating in the air. The mayor of the wider region, Philippos Anastasiades, told reporters that the material was examined and found not to be radioactive or biological material posing a risk to public health.
Local media said some businesses and homes in the area were without power after the crash, possibly because the plane may have cut cables or been burned by an explosion. More explosions occurred the night after the crash.
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