A Ukrainian cargo plane Antonov 12, carrying weapon from Serbia, crashed in Greece on Saturday night, leaving all eight crew members dead, Serbia's defence minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has confirmed.

According to the minister, the plane was carrying 11.5 tonnes of the military equipment such as weapons and mines by Serbian company ‘Valir’ for the Ministry of Defence of Bangladesh.

The aircraft that took off from the Nis airport at around 8:40 p.m. has crashed near the Greek city of Kavala.

Stefanovic explained that technical landings were planned in Amman, Riyadh and Ahmedabad, with final destination in Dhaka.

Mladen Bogdanovic, the ‘Valir’ company general manager, told Nova.rs that the plane was carrying the mines for the training of Bangladesh troops, whose delivery was arranged in 2021.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Greece said that the pilot managed to inform the authorities about a problem with one of the engines and that he was given the choice to land at Thessaloniki airport or Kavala airport, so he chose Kavala, which was closer, saying that he had to make an emergency landing.