ATHENS, July 17. /TASS/. No hazardous substances have been found at the crash site of an Ukrainian An-12 plane in northern Greece, the mayor of the affected community of Pangeo, Filippos Anastasiadis said on Sunday.
According to the mayor, thee unknown white substance spotted by drones around the crash site is not hazardous. He cited the findings of the survey conducted by specialists of the national defense ministry’s nuclear, biological and radiation protection department, who arrived at a conclusion that the substance is neither radioactive or biologically hazardous. So, in his words, the bodies of the eight crew members can be retrieved from the site.
"As of now, six out of the eight bodies have been found with the help of drones. The search for the other two continues. The bodies will be taken to Komodini for forensic examination and after that will be handed over to Ukraine’s representatives in Greece," the Kathimerini newspaper quoted him as saying.
He also said that bomb disposal specialists will continue efforts to spot munitions scattered around the plane’s fragments. That is why, in his words, the ban on motor traffic and passage of people will stay in place.
Apart from that, efforts are being taken to resume electricity supplies in the area that were cut following the crash.
Meanwhile, Greece’s fire service also said on Sunday evening that no hazardous substances had been found at the crash site. "Firefighters have already retrieved one body and have found another one," the service’s spokesman said.
Commercial flight MEM3032 (Meridian Air Cargo) was en route from Serbia to Jordan when its pilots requested an emergency landing in the northern Greek city of Kavala. The crew reported that one of the plane’s four engines had caught fire. The emergency landing was granted promptly, but the plane began to rapidly lose altitude while approaching the airport.
The aircraft hit a power line and fell about 40 km away from the Kavala airport. According to preliminary information, there were eight crew members on board.
As the plane was not supposed to land in Greece, it was not obliged to report its cargo. According to Greece’s ERT television channel reporting from Belgrade, Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Srefanovic said on Sunday that the An-12 was airlifting 11.5 tonnes of munitions to Bangladesh.
The Serbian authorities and Meridian Air Cargo, the plane’s owner, confirmed the death of all the eight crew members who were Ukrainian nationals.