Cypriot plane crashes near Athens, 121 killed

By Yannis Behrakis

GRAMMATIKO, Greece (Reuters) – A Cypriot airliner crashed
into a mountainous area north of Athens on Sunday killing all
121 people on board after apparently suffering a loss of cabin
pressure or oxygen.

“The pilot has turned blue,” a passenger said in a mobile
text message to his cousin, according to Greek television.
“Cousin farewell, we’re freezing.”

Greek TV station Alpha said the pilot told air traffic
controllers the Helios Airways Boeing 737 was experiencing air
conditioning problems before communication with the plane —
flying at 35,000 feet en route from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague
via Athens — was lost.

Rescue workers said they did not expect to find survivors.

A Greek police spokesman said there were 115 passengers and
six crew on board the flight, of which 59 adults and eight
children were heading to Athens and 48 to Prague.

Wreckage was scattered widely about the mountainous area,
40 km (25 miles) north of Athens and dense black smoke billowed
from several small fires. Only the tail section, bearing the
Helios logo, was recognizable among the debris.

“I saw many bodies scattered around, all of them wearing
(oxygen) masks,” one witness told Reuters.

Police said 35 fire trucks, eight fire-fighting planes and
three helicopters were at the scene, along with 105 special
rescue operations officers.

There were chaotic scenes at Larnaca airport where
desperate relatives demanded Helios release the passenger list
for the plane. Some chanted: “Helios are murderers.”

Akrivos Tsolaki, head of the accident investigation
committee, told reporters at the crash site the plane’s two
black boxes — voice and data recorders — had been located.

90 MINUTES

Airport officials in Cyprus said flight HCY522 left Larnaca
at 9 a.m. and lost contact at 10:30 a.m.

Two Greek F-16 fighter jets were scrambled after the plane
lost contact with the tower at Athens international airport.

One of the F-16 pilots reported that he could not see the
captain in the cockpit and his co-pilot appeared to be slumped
in his seat, a Defense Ministry official told Reuters.

The ministry said it suspected the plane’s oxygen supply or
pressurization system may have malfunctioned.

Greek Defense Ministry officials said 90 minutes elapsed
between the alert first being raised at 10:30 a.m. and the
plane crashing at 12:03 p.m.

A source said the F-16 pilots were being flown to Defense
Ministry headquarters for debriefing. “Their testimony is
crucial for the continuation of the investigation. They are the
ones with the last visuals of the plane.”

A senior government official told Reuters there were no
signs of foul play. “But we are still investigating all
possible scenarios,” he said.

The crash was the worst airline disaster in Greek history.

A Helios spokeswoman in Larnaca said: “We have no
information about any problem with the AC (air conditioning)
system. This plane received maintenance as usual and left
Cyprus without any problems.”

Kieran Daly, editor of Air Transport Intelligence, said the
cause of the crash was a “puzzle.”

“There are very good procedures in place for dealing with a
lack of oxygen. There are so many warning systems, the crew
should have been aware there was a problem,” he told Reuters.

“The passenger commenting that it was cold suggests there
was no air circulating in the cabin at all or the cockpit.”

A spokesman for the European Aviation Safety Agency, Daniel
Holtgen, based in Cologne, Germany, said: “It is highly
unlikely that the loss of cabin pressure alone would cause such
an incident. There would have to be other contributing
factors.”

SORROW, GRIEF

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis broke off his
holiday on the Greek island of Tinos to return to Athens.

In Larnaca, Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said: “I
express my deepest sorrow and grief for the loss of lives of
our compatriots and on behalf of the government I express
deepest sympathy to all the relatives. We are standing by them
and offering our support.”

At the airport in Prague, where friends and relatives had
been gathering to meet the flight, screens showing arrivals
read simply “delayed.”

Helios was Cyprus’s first private carrier, established in
1999. It flies to Dublin, Sofia, Warsaw, Prague, Strasbourg and
several British airports using a fleet of Boeing B737 aircraft.

There have been problems reported involving Helios planes
in the past. In December 2004, three passengers were taken to
hospital after the plane lost cabin pressure and made an
emergency landing at Larnaca.

Libra Holidays Group, one of Britain’s leading independent
holiday tour operators, bought Helios in November 2004.

(Additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Athens, Jean
Christou in Nicosia and Alan Crosby in Prague)