BD arms cargo insured

Dhaka will not incur financial loss due to the crash of a Ukrainian plane in Greece on Saturday, which was carrying arms consignment for Bangladesh, as the cargo was insured, high-ups in the foreign ministry said.

Serbia's Defence Minister Nebojša Stefanovic told the media that the Antonov AN-12 was transporting almost 11 tonnes of Serbian-made weapons to Bangladesh.

The weapons included mortar and training shells, made by Serbian defence industry, and buyer of the cargo was the defence ministry of Bangladesh, he said.

Commenting on the issue, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen said, the ministry is yet to get details of the cargo and analyse its total value.

"But we know it was insured. The plane was scheduled to make stop in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and India before reaching Dhaka."

It was being operated by Meridian, a Ukrainian cargo airline. So far, there is no indication of any connection (of the crash) with the war in Ukraine.

Asked why a Ukrainian plane was hired for transportation of the arms cargo instead of other countries, the foreign secretary said the supplier concerned was responsible for the transportation.

Foreign ministry is in close contact with Bangladesh missions in Greece and Italy, officials said, adding that the arms were procured through open tender.

In a statement, the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission (CARC) said the flight was scheduled to make a refuelling stop at Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan at approximately 9:30 pm before heading to Bangladesh.

The AN-12 cargo plane, which took off from the city of Nis, Serbia, on Saturday, crashed about 40 kilometres west of Kavala International Airport due to engine malfunction before making an emergency landing.

The pilot of the plane had told air traffic controllers that there was a problem with one of its engines and he had to make an emergency landing. He was directed to Kavala airport, but never made it there.

Greek media reported that there were eight people on the plane, a Soviet-era four-engine turboprop cargo carrier. It was carrying 12 tonnes of "dangerous materials," mostly explosives.

But local officials said they had no specific information on the cargo and provided slightly varying numbers of people on board.

mirmostafiz@yahoo.com