GREECE/ CYPRUS: INVESTIGATORS SAY SOME OF VICTIMS OF HELIOS AIRLINE CRASH WERE STILL ALIVE WHEN PLANE HIT THE GROUND
Record ID:
838739
GREECE/ CYPRUS: INVESTIGATORS SAY SOME OF VICTIMS OF HELIOS AIRLINE CRASH WERE STILL ALIVE WHEN PLANE HIT THE GROUND
- Title: GREECE/ CYPRUS: INVESTIGATORS SAY SOME OF VICTIMS OF HELIOS AIRLINE CRASH WERE STILL ALIVE WHEN PLANE HIT THE GROUND
- Date: 15th August 2005
- Summary: (BN12) LARNACA, CYPRUS (AUGUST 15, 2005) (REUTERS ) WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE WITH HELIOS PRESIDENT ANDREAS DRAKOS SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) HELIOS PRESIDENT ANDREAS DRAKOS SAYING: "Unfortunately we don't know. We are very keen as well as everybody here and everybody else around the world to find out exactly the causes of the accident. We don't know at this stage. We... SLV REPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) HELIOS PRESIDENT ANDREAS DRAKOS SAYING: "The plane observed all the necessary maintenance and checks in line with international requirements, those of the construction firm, and Cypriot civil aviation requirements. Before the plane left, it had completely undergone all checks according to the regulations.'' (BN10) LARNACA, CYPRUS (AUGUST 15, 2005) (REUTERS ) VARIOUS OF A HELIOS PLANE ON TARMAC Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th August 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GRAMMATIKOS ATHENS , GREECE , LARNACA, CYPRUS
- City:
- Country: Greece Cyprus
- Topics: Accidents,General,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVAEH22S4QCJPBTA89RJO5BZEP2M
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Investigators say some of the victims of Cyprus plane which crashed ,near Athens,
were still alive when plane reached the ground.
Some of the 121 people killed in the crash of a Cyprus airliner were
alive when the plane smashed into the ground, the investigation's chief coroner
said on Monday (August 15).
"Until now I have done an autopsy on six bodies and the first evidence is
that when they were killed they had circulation in their heart and lungs,"
Chief Coroner Philippos Koutsaftis told reporters.
The Helios Airways Boeing 737 crashed into mountains near Athens on Sunday
(August 14) killing all 115 passengers and six crew on a flight from Larnaca to
Prague with a stop in Athens.
At the crash site, teams of army, fire and rescue workers combed the area,
searching for debris and clues as to what caused the tragedy.
The two black box flight recorders, have already been recovered. One of
them should contain the conversations held by the two pilots and could prove
crucial to determining what prompted Greece's worst air disaster and the worst
involving a Cypriot airline.
Preliminary investigations had suggested that when the plane plunged to
ground all on board were either dead or unconscious from extreme cold and
possible loss of oxygen and cabin pressure at 35,000 feet (10,670 metres).
A Greek Defence Ministry official had said that some of the first bodies
recovered from the crash site had been frozen solid.
''How can it be possible? With so much exposure to the sun and all the fire
that that could happen? It's not possible," Koutsaftis said, when asked by a
reporter if the bodies were frozen.
Distraught relatives of the victims arrived in Athens to begin the ordeal
of identifying the remains of their loved ones and to arrange for bodies to be
taken back to Cyprus.
They also want answers from Helios, the company which owns the crashed
plane, as to why the craft when so dramatically down in the first place.
Visibly distraught, sobbing and hugging each other, they talked about the
family members they had lost, some as many as five members of the same family.
"'When such a tragedy occurs with human lives there are guilty parties.
When profits are put above human lives there are criminals. These guilty people
must be held accountable to justice and the state must put them on trial," said
a relative of one of the victims.
The relatives donned surgical masks in order to enter the morgue where 45
identifiable bodies had arrived from the crash site.
Greek Health Ministry officials said bodies too badly burnt for visual
identification were being identified through personal items such as jewellery
and by DNA tests, which could take as long as ten days.
''If these people from Helios came here to the morgue and saw these kids --
both recognisable and those who are not recognisable -- we are not talking
about people anymore-- it's something else in there," the relative said.
Psychologists and priests were on site to aid and comfort the family
members.
Out of the 121 passengers and crew 104 were Cypriot. The pilot was revealed
to be German, four passengers were Armenian and 12 were Greek, according to a
list released by the Cypriot Transport Ministry. The passenger list showed
there were 17 children under the age of 16-years old, with the youngest aged
four.
In the Cypriot capital, Larnaca, Helios Airways President Andreas Drakos
told reporters the plane had undergone all safety checks and was cleared for
use before it left the airport.
"We are very keen as well as everybody here and everybody else around the
world to find out exactly the causes of the accident," he said.
The airline is reiterating its sorrow to the families and said it will
provide financial assistance to the families in the sum of 20,000 euros for
each passenger.
Drakos said that all safety checks on the plane were in line with
international requirements and Civil Aviation requirements.
A team of engineers will now be sent to Athens to work alongside Greek
authorities to uncover the cause of the accident.
Drakos said the airline would keep flying its planes, adding that his
family will continue to fly with the airline.
"We will carry on as normal, we will tackle the problems, we will stand by
our crew, the commitment to our passengers and staff, and we will carry on," he
told reporters.
Helios, Cyprus's first private carrier, established in 1999, flies mainly
holiday makers to Athens, the Greek islands, Dublin, Sofia, Warsaw, Prague,
Strasbourg and several British airports using a fleet of Boeing B737 aircraft.
It is owned by Libra Holidays Group, one of Britain's leading independent
holiday tour operators, which bought Helios in November 2004.
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