The apparatus crash, operated by the Ukrainian company Meridian, was followed by fires punctuated by explosion, according to several witnesses and the local authorities.
Le Monde
An Antonov cargo plane crashed, Saturday July 16 in the evening, in fields in the town of Paleochori Kavalas, northeast of Greece. According to press information, the plane assured the connection between Serbia and Jordan, and had just requested an emergency landing authorization at the Greek airport in Kavala, but did not succeed in time. No official information filtered on the number of people aboard the plane, which was still burning several hours after the crash.
Sunday morning, Images of drones turned by window The Greek television channel ENA showed the long trail of debris left by the device after its crash, followed, according to several witnesses and the local authorities, fires punctuated with explosion. Faced with the uncertainty of the cargo transported by the Antonov – the general of the firefighters division, Marios Apostolidis, mentioned with public television ERT a “white substance” escaping from the carcass of the plane -, Experts from the army and the Greek atomic energy commission were still very careful about the place of the incident, helped by a drone and provided with measurement instruments.
the number of people aboard the still unknown plane 2>
According to local authorities, seven firefighters were deployed at the crash, but without being able to approach the aircraft, which continued to be shaken by explosions. Early Sunday, two firefighters were taken to the hospital due to breathing difficulties due to toxic smoke.
According to ERT, the plane was operated by a Ukrainian airline, Meridian. His journey on Saturday, as registered by the Flightradar platform shows a departure from the Serbian city from Nis around 8:30 p.m. (Paris time) towards the South West. Shortly after having exceeded the Greek coast above the Aegean Sea, the aircraft makes a quick turn to return to the ground, bypasses the Pangée massif in the direction of Kavala before crashing.
Several inhabitants filmed, in the night, the end of the flight of the Antonov, already on fire before hitting the ground. “At 10:45 p.m. I was surprised by the sound of an airplane engine. I went out and I saw a fireplace on fire,” said Giorgos Archontopoulos on Ert public television. Saturday evening, people living in a range of 2 kilometers around the crash site were invited to stay at home and wear masks.