121 dead in Greek air crash

Sunday, August 14, 2005 Posted: 1154 GMT (1954 HKT)

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- A Cypriot plane with "no sign of life" in the cockpit crashed into a mountain north of Athens on Sunday, killing all 121 people on board, Greek officials said.
F-16 pilots escorting the Boeing 737 after air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet said the pilot was not in the cockpit and that the co-pilot was slumped over the controls, according to reports.

The Boeing pilots had reported an air conditioning problem, and Greek TV said a passengers sent a text message to a cousin saying it was freezing in the plane.

"The pilot has turned blue (in the face)," the passenger said in the SMS message, Reuters quoted the television report as saying. "Cousin farewell we're freezing."

The plane, Helios Airlines Flight 522 with 115 passengers and six crew en route from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens, crashed about 12 p.m. (0900 GMT, 5 a.m. ET), officials said.
It was then supposed to continue to Prague, Czech Republic, according to the Czech Press Agency, citing officials at the Prague airport.

The Greek government said there were no survivors.

The passengers included 59 adults and eight children who were disembarking at Athens for a vacation, the government said, along with 46 adults and two children who were headed to Prague.

The jet crashed near the coastal town of Grammatikos, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Athens and near the historic town of Marathon.

The crash site was littered with bodies and debris, Athens journalist Paul Anastasi told CNN. Video footage from the site showed the smoking wreckage of the aircraft. Only the tail portion remained identifiable.

"There is wreckage everywhere," Grammatikos Mayor George Papageorgiou told The
Associated Press from the scene.

"The fuselage has been destroyed. It fell into a chasm and there are pieces. All the residents are here trying to help."

The jet entered Greek air space about 10:30 a.m., but efforts by air traffic controllers to contact the pilots were futile. After some time, two Greek F-16s were scrambled, Greek Air Force spokesman Yiannis Papageorgiou told CNN.

As the F-16s approached, their pilots saw "no sign of life" in the cockpit, and the plane apparently was on autopilot, Papageorgiou said.

The F-16 pilots reported the pilot was not in the cockpit, and the co-pilot was slumped over the controls, Anastasi said.

They also reported they could see through the plane's windows that the oxygen masks had dropped down, a possible signal of an oxygen problem on the aircraft.

The F-16s escorted the plane until it struck the mountain.

Witness Dimitris Karezas, who owns a summer camp in the area, told Reuters, "I saw the plane coming. I knew it was serious or that it was some kind of VIP because I saw the two fighter jets.

"Two, three minutes later I heard a big bang and ever since I've started looking for it, but I have not found anything yet," he told reporters.

Helios Airlines is a subsidiary of Cyprus Airlines.
Journalist Anthee Carassavas contributed to this report

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