ATHENS — The
safety sweep of a
Greek field where a Ukrainian plane carrying munitions
crashed over the weekend, raising fears of contamination, is set to take weeks,
the local mayor said Tuesday.
اضافة اعلان
“The first estimate is that (the operation)
will take at least a month,” Filippos Anastassiadis, mayor of Pangaio
municipality, told state TV ERT.
The Antonov An-12 came down near the northern
Greek city of Kavala late Saturday evening killing all eight crew onboard. It
was transporting 11.5 tonnes of Serbian-made mortars to Bangladesh, which was
the buyer.
The authorities initially warned residents to
stay indoors with their windows shut. Local people reported respiratory
difficulties.
Explosives disposal experts were working for
a third day on Tuesday to clear ordnance so the site could be decontaminated
and made accessible.
The authorities have forbidden residents from
entering surrounding fields until the wreckage and any unexploded munitions
have been removed.
Another municipal official, Makis
Papathanassiou, on Tuesday told ERT an area of 100 hectares had been cordoned
off and was under police guard.
The plane was operated by the
Ukrainian cargo carrier Meridian. The foreign ministry in Kyiv said the dead were Ukrainian
citizens.
Greece on Monday formally complained to
Belgrade and Kyiv, saying it had not received prior warning about the cargo.
There was also confusion initially over the
plane’s destination.
It took off from the Serbian city of Nis on
Saturday and had been due to make a stopover in Amman, Jordan.
Serbian President
Aleksandar Vucic said all
procedures had been respected “to the letter”.
Videos on social media showed the plane
engulfed by a giant fireball as it hit the ground.
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