Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 05-08-14

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] Helios Airways air crash-Minister of Communications-Press conference

[02] Helios Airways crash: Company says aircraft was fully airworthy

[03] Helios Airways air crash-Greece says no indication of terrorist attack

[01] Helios Airways air crash-Minister of Communications-Press conference

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Helios Airways air crash-Minister of Communications-Press conference

Larnaca, Aug 14 (CNA) -- 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.

[02] Helios Airways crash: Company says aircraft was fully airworthy

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Helios Airways aircrash: Company says aircraft was fully airworthy

Nicosia, Aug 14 (CNA) -- Helios Airways announced here tonight that the Boeing 737, that crashed earlier today near Athens was fully serviceable and airworthy before it departed Larnaca Airport for Prague via Athens.

In its second statement issued today, the airline said the majority of the 115 passengers were adults. A six-member crew was also onboard the HCY 522 flight.

[03] Helios Airways air crash-Greece says no indication of terrorist attack

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Helios Airways air crash-Greece says no indication of terrorist attack

Nicosia, Aug 14 (CNA) -- Greek Government Spokesman Thodoros Rousopoulos said here today that there is no indication that a terrorist attack caused the crash of an Helios Airways flight, near Athens earlier today killing everybody on board.

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.

Flight HCY 522 was carrying 115 passengers and a six member crew when it crashed in Marathonas, outside Athens. The destination of the flight was Prague.

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.

He said the Minister of National Defence ordered a super-puma helicopter to go to Markonisos area as a precaution, two torpedo boats and one frigate to move south of Emvia to offer help, if the civil aircraft falls out at sea.

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