Cypriot plane with 121 on board crashes in Greece

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Cypriot plane with 121 on board crashes in Greece

News - 14/08/2005

A Helios airliner (Boeing 737, flight HCY 522) with 115 passengers and 6 crew onboard has crashed into a mountain at 09:04 UTC (12:04 p.m. EEST) near Grammatiko, 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Athens, while approaching the capital's airport. Apparently, all on board perished. The plane was travelling from Larnaca, in the southeast of Cyprus and scheduled to arrive in Prague after a stop in Athens.

Rescuers report that all passengers have been killed. A passenger list is being compiled by officials in Cyprus. Of the 115 passengers, 105 were adults. Czech Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek has said that he does not believe any Czech citizens were aboard, all the victims are believed to be Cypriot or Greek.

After communication was lost with ground control twenty minutes after take-off, the aircraft was joined by two Greek F-16 military aircraft until it crashed. The pilots of the F-16s noted that one airliner pilot appeared to be unconscious and the other was not in the cockpit.

Immediately after take-off, the pilots reported a problem with the pressurization system of the aircraft. Later, a passenger sent a text message that it had become extremely cold in the cabin and that people were freezing to death. The message read: "The pilot has turned blue [in the face]. Cousin farewell we're freezing." It is speculated that the air-supply system of the plane may have failed and that the pilots became unconscious before the crash. The downed aircraft allegedly had decompression problems in the past. Decompression causes a significant drop in air temperature.

At an altitude of 30,000 feet, a person can normally remain conscious for only 15–30 seconds without supplementary oxygen. There is suspicion that the emergency oxygen equipment in flight 522 malfunctioned.

Helios Airways is a subsidiary of Libra Holidays Group and is registered in Cyprus. Founded in 1999 as Cyprus' first independent airline, it operates 4 Boeing 737 jets with flights between Cyprus and London, Athens, Sofia, Warsaw, Dublin and Strasbourg. A formal press conference has taken place by a company representative for Helios, at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus however no further information was given out as to the names of the victims or the details of the accident. The relatives of the victims are complaining about the fact no formal information is being handed to them as to the names of the people on board.

Timeline

09:00 (06:00 UTC) Scheduled departure time.
09:07 (06:07 UTC) Airplane takes off from Larnaka airport.
10:30 (07:30 UTC) Flight fails to establish contact with the Eleftherios Venizelos Airport
10:37 (07:37 UTC) Last contact with Larnaka airport reporting problem.
10:45 (07:45 UTC) Scheduled arrival time in Athens.
10:55 (07:55 UTC) The Hellenic Armed Forces Joint Chief of Staff, Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis orders military planes to establish visual contact with the aircraft.
11:05 (08:05 UTC) Two F-16 fighter planes take off from Araxos, Greece.
11:18 (08:18 UTC) Fighter pilots see co-pilot unconcious on the aircraft's instrument panel.
11:20 (08:20 UTC) Fighter jets establish visual contact.
11:40-11:50 (08:40-08:50 UTC) Aircraft flies a triangular distress pattern.
12:04 (09:04 UTC) Aircaft crashes near Grammatikos, having run out of fuel.
13:10 (11:10 UTC) Scheduled arrival time in Prague.