A Helios Airways aircraft, Boeing 737-300, carrying 115 passengers and a six-member crew, crashed north…
A Helios Airways aircraft, Boeing 737-300, carrying 115 passengers and a six-member crew, crashed north Kontroni area of Marathona, Greece, around 1220 hours local time (0920 GMT).
Initial reports from Greek Civil Aviation suggest that the pilots of the Helios aircraft and the crew were unconscious before the crash.
The morning flight that left Larnaca airport at 0900 local time (0600 GMT) was heading to Prague, via Athens.
The aircraft of the private-owned Helios company had lost contact with Athens airport control tower and two Greek F-16 fighter jets took off to scramble after the jet.
Initial reports rule out terrorist attack
Marios Karoyan, director of the President`s of Cyprus Press Office, has ruled out at this stage a terrorist attack as a possible cause for the air crash of flight HCY 522 of Helios Airways, that came down near Athens.
Initial indications are that the crash was not the result of a terrorist attack, following the briefing we had from the Greek authorities as well, Karoyan said.
Helios Airways Managing Director Demetris Pantazis said the information has came from Civil Aviation authorities in Cyprus and Greece.
Contact with flight HCY 522 was lost shortly after take off, 20 minutes into the flight. There is nothing more I can say at this stage, he said. He added that the company will continue to fly because it has no information that would lead us to do otherwise.
He explained that the airline has an obligation to give all the information it gathers to the Cyprus police and the airline is preparing a list of the names of passengers and crew that were to board flight HCY 522.
He said the airline has to verify and corroborate all the information it has about the list of the passengers before releasing any names.
This is one of the most tragic days for all of us but we have to be careful about releasing names. We have to be absolutely sure about that, we cannot afford to make any mistakes in this respect, he stressed.
All available information about this flight will be given to the competent authorities, he added, pointing out that it would be irresponsible on his part to disclose information that is not corroborated.
Responding to a flurry of questions by the press, he said all relevant authorities as well as Boeing have been notified.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Communications and Works Makis Constantindes said that flight HCY 522 lost contact with FIR control centre Nicosia shortly before it entered Greek air space.
He said the Boeing 737 left Larnaca airport at 0907 local time (0607 GMT) and Cypriot authorities were informed by Greek Civil Aviation authorities that the aircraft had crashed five miles northeast of Athens airport, Eleftherios Venizelos.
The government is very interested in this, President Papadopoulos and some members of his Cabinet met at Larnaca airport to coordinate action. We are doing all we can under the circumstances, he said.
Haris Thrassou, Cyprus Minister of Communications and Works
Haris Thrassou, 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.
Expressing deep sympathy for the relatives of the victims, he said he could not confirm various scenario heard on the airwaves and appealed to everybody to allow the competent authorities to do their job properly.
Speaking at a press conference at Larnaca airport, he said that Civil Aviation has mobilised all services to help deal with the situation and the ministries of Health, Labour and Public Order have all contributed to the effort.
The Health Ministry has provided a specialised team of medical and paramedical staff to help the families of the victims.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance has sent experts from its social welfare services to offer support to anybody who needs it and the Ministry of Justice and Public Order has sent a ten-member team to the scene of the air crash in Greece to coordinate with the Greek authorities.
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.
He said the aircraft that crashed today had been given a clean bill of health by the authorities, as far as safety was concerned and said more details would be made available at a later stage when more information is at hand.
Asked if Helios would be asked to ground its fleet, he said it is not customary in such cases to ask an airline to ground its fleet and all international regulations will be followed.
He said there is no information about finding any survivors and explained that after the crash, the fire that had engulfed the aircraft lasted for hours.
Responding to questions, he said an investigation will take place to see why the airline could not provide the police and the government a proper list with the names of the passengers.
The list we had from the airline mentioned only an initial and a surname only, it was incomplete, he added.
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.
Thrassou said the aircraft had passed through technical checks by a company outside Cyprus and had received all necessary certificates for air worthiness.
Greece also says no indication of terrorist attack
Greek Government Spokesman Thodoros Rousopoulos said that there is no indication that a terrorist attack caused the crash of the Helios Airways flight, near Athens.
Speaking after an emergency meeting in Athens, Rousopoulos expressed the government`s deep sorrow for the death of so many people.
Greek Minister of Interior and Public Administration Prokopis Pavlopoulos declared Tuesday 16 August as a day of national mourning in memory of the victims of the air tragedy.
Flags will fly at half mast at all public buildings and a three minute silence will be observed at noon at public services, hoping that private business will follow suit, an announcement said.
Rousopoulos said an in depth investigation is underway by the authorities and the black box has already been located.
On the circumstances of the fatal crash, he said after repeated attempts to contact the aircraft with no response, two F-16 took off to have visual contact with the aircraft.
The pilots got close to the Helios aircraft and realized that the pilots of the civil aircraft would not respond to their calls. The F-16 pilots saw that the co-pilot was on the floor, probably unconscious and the captain was not at his seat in the cockpit. Oxygen masks had dropped down from the places, and they also saw two persons in the cockpit who seemed to be trying to fly the plane, he said.
It was not immediately clear who these people were, or whether they were crew members or passengers.
EU Commissioner expresses sadness
European Union Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot has expressed deep sadness at the loss of life, following an air crash of a Cypriot airline Helios, at around noon near Athens.
My sympathies go out to the families and friends of the victims and all those affected by this tragic event, he said, according to AFP.
This latest incident shows that in spite of all that has already been done to improve the safety of Europe`s skies, we must intensify our joint efforts to ensure the very highest safety standards for all Europe`s air passengers and crew, Barrot said.
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