Trabzon, Turkey ? Bad weather appears to be to blame for the crash of an airplane carrying Spanish peacekeepers back from Afghanistan that killed all 75 people aboard.

Even after Monday’s crash into a fog-shrouded mountain in northeastern Turkey, several blasts continued to go off amid the wreckage, apparently from ammunition on the flight exploding, sending twisted and charred metal flying over a wide area.

In the debris were soldiers’ diaries, family pictures, CDs and a half-burned camera, witnesses said.

Most of the 62 Spanish soldiers on board had just finished a four-month peacekeeping mission in the Afghan capital, Kabul, working at the city’s airport.

“This is an appalling tragedy, given that these soldiers were serving the interest of peace in a difficult mission in Afghanistan,” NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson said during a visit to the Czech Republic.

The Russian-made YAK-42D, heading from Kabul to Zarazoga, Spain, was trying to stop for fuel in the Black Sea port of Trabzon.

A Turkish firefighter works to extinguish burning debris at the site of plane crash near Trabzon, Turkey. All 75 people aboard the plane -- including 62 Spanish soldiers -- died when it crashed Monday while trying to land for refueling.

The plane approached Trabzon but was too high so it turned away, then crashed in the mountains about 470 miles northeast of the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Spain’s Defense Minister Federico Trillo said that bad weather, including fog and strong winds, appeared to be to blame.

“It tried once again to land at the airport and they couldn’t. On the second try unfortunately, the aircraft went against the mountain,” Trillo said after arriving in Trabzon to help with the investigation and to coordinate the repatriation of bodies.

Radio contact with the plane was lost shortly before the crash, and Turkish aviation officials speculated that there may have also been a technical malfunction.