Meridian Antonov An-12BP freighter crashes with eight casualties

An Antonov AN-12BP freighter operated by Ukrainian airline Meridian has crashed in Greece killing all eight crew onboard the aircraft.

Aviation analytics company Cirium said that the aircraft, registered as UR-CIC, was transporting munitions to Dhaka, Bangladesh via technical stops at Amman, Jordan, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Ahmedabad, India, when it crashed near Kavala, Greece on July 16.

“The aircraft was operating a flight from Nis, Serbia to Amman, Jordan; however, about an hour after take-off, while at FL210 over the Aegean Sea some 80km south of Kavala, the crew reported an ‘operational problem’ and that they were returning to Nis,” said Cirium.

“The aircraft subsequently carried out a left turn through 180 degrees to reverse course and began to descend. About five minutes later the crew declared a Mayday and reported a fire on their No.4 engine. The flight diverted towards Kavala but crashed in fields about 10km to the west of the airport five minutes later. The accident happened in darkness (2247L) but in VMC.”

Flightradar shows the date of the last UR-CIC flight as July 16, with an unknown status.

Rebecca Jeffrey www.aircargonews.net