The Antonov An-12, registered UR-CIC, operated by Ukrainian cargo airline Meridian crashed near Kavala on Saturday evening. The 51,5-year-old turboprop aircraft was en route from Nis to Amman.

The cargo was explosive in the truest sense of the word, because according to the Greek media, the old cargo plane was transporting around 12 tons of dangerous goods, which are said to be mostly unspecified explosive materials. Eyewitnesses report that there were several violent explosions immediately after the crash. The Greek authorities do not know exactly what was in the cargo hold, and the real flight destination does not appear to have been Amman, but Bangladesh. Spicy: In the days before, this An-12 was repeatedly deployed in the direction of Rzeszow.

The Ukrainian plane that crashed in Greece was transporting flare and practice mines to Bangladesh, according to the Serbian Defense Ministry. "The information that the weapons were transported to Ukraine is malicious and false," said Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic.

The UR-CIC machine used was an Antonov An-1971 originally commissioned by the then Soviet Aeroflot in 12. After numerous other operators, the oldie was only fleeted with the Ukrainian Meridian in February 2022. At the time of the accident, the four-engine turboprop aircraft was already 51 years and six months old.

This type of aircraft was originally developed for military use, but was also used civilianly in Soviet times as both a cargo and passenger aircraft. The subject UR-CIC was - at least officially - never on the official fleet list of a military force, but was always operated civilian. However, the turboprop aircraft has been chartered by the military time and again over the long history and carried out one or the other order.

Cargo plane has been in Rzeszow frequently in the last few days

A look at the last few days of the UR-CIC shows that the machine has operated numerous cargo flights to Rzeszow from Burgas, Ostrava and Marseille. This is the airport in Poland, which is located near the Ukrainian city of Lviv. This strongly suggests that weapons destined for Ukraine may have been transported. Officially, however, no one wants to comment.

On July 14, 2022, this Antonov An-12 was initially transferred from Marseille to Vatry. From there we went to Sarajevo. On July 15, 2022, they flew to Belgrade, then to Ankara. On the day of the crash, the UR-CIC initially flew from the Turkish capital to Nis. From there it was supposed to go to Amman, but the turboprop plane never got there.

Uncertainty about the actual flight destination

There are now numerous indications that Amman should have functioned at best as a fuel stop and that the real destination should have been Bangladesh. There is no official confirmation of this. Meridian Aviation only confirmed that the UR-CIC crashed in Greece due to a technical defect and that all eight crew members lost their lives. No information was given on the type of cargo and the flight destination, and no questions were asked about it either.

It is currently known that the cast has discovered a technical problem with one of the four turboprop engines and has therefore requested an emergency landing at Greece's Kavala airport. The course was changed accordingly. Nevertheless, the UR-CIC did not make it to this airport, but crashed beforehand.

Fire already in flight - heavy explosion after the crash

Video taken by eyewitnesses shows that a fire broke out before the crash. Due to the poor image quality, it is not possible to say with certainty whether the faulty engine was on fire or whether a fire was already raging elsewhere. At the moment of ground contact you can see that it lights up brightly, which can definitely happen when it falls. A moment later, an explosion is visible in the form of extremely bright light. What exactly happened cannot be determined from the available eyewitness video. At the very least, the local media's assumption that the charge may have exploded after the crash is definitely not far-fetched.

Greece does not know what was on board

At the time of the subsequent fire brigade operation, the Greek authorities did not know what the crashed UR-CIC had loaded on board. Local media write that there were further, smaller explosions for around two hours. A video taken the following day with the help of a drone shows that there is pretty much nothing left of the Antonov An-12.

The Greek authorities now have experts on duty to check for a possible threat to the civilian population. There is talk of a strong, acrid, stinking stench. The residents were therefore asked to keep windows and doors closed and, if possible, not to leave their houses and apartments. There are also reports that Greece is also using radiation protection experts, since at least it cannot be ruled out that the plane might have had radioactive material on board. The deployment is currently presented as a pure precautionary measure for the population and the environment, since it is still unknown what was transported in the cargo hold at all.

The Serbian Ministry of Defense stated that these were flare and training mines for Bangladesh. Rumors that the weapons could have been destined for Ukraine have been firmly rejected. Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic even describes this as “wrong and malicious”.