Jordan-bound Ukrainian cargo plane carrying weapons crashes in Greece

An Antonov cargo plane operated by a Ukrainian airline crashed Saturday near the city of Kavala in northern Greece, killing all eight crew members on board, authorities said. 

Local residents reported seeing a fireball and hearing explosions for two hours after the crash.

Greek Civil Aviation authorities said the flight was heading from Serbia to Jordan. The An-12 -- a Soviet-built turboprop aircraft -- was operated by cargo carrier Meridian.

Serbian Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović said at a press conference in Belgrade on Sunday that the cargo plane was carrying 11,5 tonnes of materiel sold to the Bangladeshi military. The aircraft was scheduled to make several "technical stops" in Amman, Riyadh and Ahmedabad, as well as Dacca, according to Stefanović.

He rejected the "malicious and untrue" allegations that the lethal cargo on board was being shipped to Ukraine, saying that the "aeroplane had all the necessary permits, and everything was according to international regulations."

Owner of the Belgrade-based company Valir Mladen Bogdanović told Serbian Nova TV that the Ukrainian cargo plane was set to land in Jordan, where the means to transport the shipment to Bangladesh was to be determined.

The contract between the company and Bangladesh authorities was signed in 2021, Bogdanović explained, and the cargo contained "school mines intended to be used in training the Bangladeshi army."

As a precaution because of a strong smell emanating from the crash site, a coordinating committee made up of municipal, police and fire service officials told inhabitants of the two localities closest to the crash site to keep their windows shut all night, not to leave their homes and to wear masks. 

Authorities say they were concerned that