What exactly the Antonov had loaded is not yet known. Authorities have asked residents near the scene of the accident not to leave their homes.
Kavala – Windows closed, air conditioning off, do not leave the houses – after the crash of a cargo plane in north-eastern Greece on Saturday evening, acrid fumes have spread to the scene of the accident. The Ministry of Citizen Protection sent a corresponding warning SMS to the residents.
The Antonow An-12 is said to have had twelve tons of “toxic goods” on board, the state broadcaster ERT reported. It was not initially known what exactly the cargo was. All eight crew members of the plane died in the accident.
Local residents filmed the crash
The Antonov was reportedly taking off from Nis, Serbia, and en route to Amman, Jordan, when the pilot reported an engine problem and requested an emergency landing at the airport in the city of Kavala. The flight tracker Flightradar24 showed how the plane changed course near the Chalkidiki peninsula over the North Aegean towards Kavala – but the crew couldn’t make it until then. The plane crashed in an uninhabited area near the villages of Paleochori and Antifilippi, less than 40 kilometers from Kalava.
In the area, a number of residents saw and filmed the crash of the plane, which was already on fire in the air and was therefore clearly visible in the night sky. First, a large contingent of fire brigades, ambulances and police arrived, but the rescue services soon withdrew. “Even though we wore masks, the air was unbearable. There was not only smoke, but also acrid fumes,” a firefighter told journalists. Two of his colleagues were taken to the hospital with respiratory problems.
called in the military for help
The mayor of the affected municipality of Pangeo, Filippos Anastasiadis, confirmed that night that the machine had loaded “dangerous material”. It was probably ammunition, he told the state broadcaster ERT and assured that there were no chemical or nuclear warfare agents. The military is on the way to the scene of the accident.
For hours after the crash, explosions could be heard from the burning remains of the plane. The rubble of the Antonow is said to be spread within a radius of 800 meters, the area has been cordoned off over a large area. Experts said on television that terms such as “toxic goods” could mean many different things, ammunition, weapons, but also batteries for military use, for example, which would also release toxic gases in a fire. dpa
