ATHENS - (AFP) - Serbian Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic announced Sunday that all eight crew members of the Antonov cargo plane that crashed Saturday night near the town of Palaiochori Kavalas in northern Greece have died.

He explained that the plane was carrying about 11 tons of weapons, including luminous mortar mines, to Bangladesh.

Witnesses told the Athens News Agency that the plane was on fire and that they heard explosions.

Yorgos Arkhontopoulos, a resident of the area, told state TV station ERT that he sensed something was wrong as soon as he heard the sound of the plane's engine.

"At 22:45 I was surprised by the sound of the plane's engine. I went out and saw the plane on fire," he said.

Local officials said 15 firefighters and seven firefighting machinery were deployed to the crash site but were unable to approach due to the continuous explosions.

According to media reports, the cargo plane was heading from Serbia to Jordan and requested an emergency landing at the nearby Kavala Airport, but was unable to reach it.

The ERT station indicated that the plane was a Ukrainian Antonov. Local residents said it was on fire before it crashed.
There was no official information available about the number of people on board the still-burning plane, according to live footage broadcast on state television.

But ERT reported that the plane was carrying eight people and that its cargo was "dangerous". She stated that the police asked the journalists present at the site to wear masks.

One of the firefighters told reporters, "You should move away for your safety. There is information that the plane is carrying ammunition."
"The plane crashed about two kilometers from a populated area," Philippos Anastasiades, the mayor of the neighboring Bayeux municipality, told OpenTV.