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No Evidence of "Terrorist Attack" on Crashed Plane - Cyprus Minister

Posted on: Monday, 15 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Excerpt from report in English by Greek Cypriot news agency CNA

Larnaca, 14 August: Kharis Thrasou, Cyprus minister of communications and works, said "we have not a shred of evidence that the plane came down because of a terrorist attack."

The minister was talking hours after an Helios Airways Boeing 737 crashed near Athens, around noon today, killing everybody on board.

"We have no information about any survivors," he said, adding that out of the 115 passengers, 67 of them were to stop over in Athens and the rest were to continue their journey to Prague, the final destination of the fatal flight HCY 522, with a six member crew.

"Most of the passengers were Cypriot," he said.

[Passage omitted]

Responding to questions, the minister said he could not give the list of passengers and crew, saying the list the government had received from the airline was incomplete in that it only registered the initial and the surname of passengers.

[Passage omitted]

Asked about the information Greek air force pilots had on the fatal crash, he said "what the two pilots of the F-16 fighters saw will be reported to the committee for the investigation of air accidents."

When flight HCY 522 lost contact with the control tower in Athens, two Greek F-16 took off to accompany the Boeing 737. Press reports have said the pilots reported that the two Helios airline pilots looked unconscious. Other reports talked about a third person in the cockpit.

"It looks as if the passengers on board the flight were already dead before the aircraft crashed and burst into flames, near Marathonas," he said.

The minister could not confirm reports that 48 children were on board.

He did say that contact with flight HCY 522 was interrupted abruptly and the pilots did not send a mayday signal.

[Passage omitted]

Source: BBC Monitoring European

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