Greek news: Athens asks Belgrade for an explanation about the Antonov cargo

Athens is seeking explanations from Belgrade regarding the dangerous cargo carried by the Antonov aircraft that crashed on Saturday night near Kavala.

According to diplomatic sources, on the order of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikos Dendias, the Greek ambassador in Belgrade will immediately make a statement regarding the need to inform the Greek side earlier than the Serbian one about the nature of the cargo of the aircraft that crashed near Kavala on Saturday night .

After hours of suspense over the cargo of the fatal plane, which crashed near a residential area just before 11pm on Saturday, clarification gave yesterday morning the Minister of Defense of Serbia, Neboisa Stefanovic.

During a press conference, he said that the Antonov transporter was carrying 11.5 tons of military equipment and its final destination was Bangladesh.

The aircraft loaded the military equipment at the Constantine the Great airport in the city of Nice and took off at 20:40 (21:40 Greek time) for Dhaka, Bangladesh with stopovers in Amman and Riyadh, Stefanovic said.

The Serbian Defense Minister also stated that the aircraft’s cargo consisted of training mortar shells exported by a Serbian private company and the buyer was the Ministry of Defense of Bangladesh.

Neboisa Stefanovic assured that the process of exporting the ammunition was legal and had the approval of the Serbian Ministry of Defense. The aircraft belonged to a Ukrainian airline, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said at the press conference.

All-night searches

After being assured that there are no hazardous toxic materials, searches began yesterday afternoon and continued throughout the night around the crash site.

During the night the Land Mine Clearance Battalion continued to locate and mark munitions scattered from the aircraft wreckage.

They will then be gathered and removed or neutralized on site, which will be decided by the echelon.

For this reason, it was deemed necessary that the ban on vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the rural areas of Antiphilippi and Paleochori remain in force until further notice.

Warning Sarigiannis

Speaking to SKAI, the professor of Environmental Engineering drew the attention of all competent authorities to the possible risk of toxic substances produced by the burning of the ammunition carried by the Antonov, as well as the materials of the aircraft itself. Demosthenes Sarigiannis.

As Mr. Sarigiannis explained, “both from the burning of the explosives and its plastic and metal materials aircraft substances are released that can have toxic content. Most of them fall to the ground.”

For this reason, “it is good to have sampling, in a radius of 1 km around the crash site”, as he explained, practically referring to an area of ​​3.14 square kilometers, “for 1-2 months to be sure, as these substances do not biodegrade easily, to be sure there is no contamination problem.”

Regarding the residents of the area, he noted that “there is no question of a mask at the moment, everything that is going to fall on the ground has already fallen.”

He warned, however, about the possibility of “causing a re-suspension, e.g. by agricultural work’, which will cause these substances to find their way back into the air and possibly be transported further or inhaled by citizens working within that area around the crash site.

Mr. Sarigiannis also referred to the need “not to let anything pass through the food chain and burden people over time”, indicating problems that may concern the water table but also food (from agricultural or animal production) that may be contaminated.

Late last night it became known that the eight bodies of the Ukrainians who were on board the Antonov aircraft. The bodies were taken to the Komotini General Hospital to undergo a forensic examination, and will then be handed over to the Ukrainian authorities.

Besides, it seems that an object has also been found which is suspected to be the a black box of the aircraft, which raises the hope that it will provide answers to causes that led to the fall of the aircraft like a flaming ball.

The 38 minutes that led to the tragedy

The Civil Aviation Service (CAA) in its announcement points out that the Accident Investigation and Flight Safety Committee (EDAAP) has been assigned to the accident.

According to the CAA, the Ukrainian-registered Antonov 12 aircraft took off from Nis airport in Serbia with a crew of eight (8) and eleven and a half (11.5) tons of dangerous goods.

According to the flight plan he had submitted to the competent Serbian authorities, the aircraft would make a cargo flight to Bangladesh (Dhaka) with intermediate stops in Jordan (Amman) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh).

It entered Greek airspace at 22:09 local time. At 22:37 the plane informed the Athens-Macedonia Area Control Center (KEPATHM) that due to a problem (operational reasons) it would not continue to its final destination and that it would return to the departure airport.

“May Day, Engine 4 Fire”

At 22:42 flying east of Halkidiki he informed the air traffic controllers on the approach to Thessaloniki that he has a problem with engine number four (4) stating: may day fire in engine four. The CAA immediately declared a state of emergency by activating the relevant procedures provided for. At 22:45 the aircraft had a conversation with the Kavala control tower and informed that it was heading for an emergency landing. Landing permission was immediately given for Chrysoupolis airport in Kavala. At 22:47 the aircraft was lost from air traffic radars.

The Civil Aviation Service, as stated in the relevant announcement, informed the National Coordination Center for Search and Rescue about the danger situation and then about the loss of communication and the process of identification, search and rescue started immediately. At the same time, all relevant bodies (Fire Service, Greek Police, Civil Protection, Ministry of National Defense and local bodies) were mobilized for the loss of the plane’s position in the wider area of ​​Kavala.

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