A Cypriot airliner that crashed eight days ago suffered loss of cabin pressure and ran out of fuel before hitting a mountain near Athens, a preliminary report has found.
Helios Flight 522, from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens, crashed near the village of Grammatiko, 25 miles north of Athens
The findings were presented to the transport ministry by chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis, following the analysis of flight recorders and autopsies on all 118 bodies recovered from the site.
Helios Flight 522, from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens, crashed near the village of Grammatiko, 25 miles north of Athens, in Greece's worst air disaster. All 121 people on board the flight died, but three bodies have not been found.
The chief state coroner said today that autopsies have been completed on all 118 bodies recovered from the wreckage. The results showed all passengers and crew died on impact.
Fillippos Koutsaftis said examination of DNA, tissue and dental records would continue in an effort to identify those bodies too badly damaged by the impact for confirmed identification.
Investigators are examining reports that the plane's pilots were incapacitated by a possible loss of cabin pressure.
Two F-16 fighter pilots, scrambled to intercept the plane shortly before it crashed, reported seeing the co-pilot slumped over the controls, apparently unconscious.
Tests on traces of blood found in the wreckage have indicated that a flight attendant was in the cockpit when the aircraft crashed, state television reported yesterday.
AP