A Cypriot airliner carrying at least 121 people has crashed north of Athens after losing contact with air traffic control minutes before it went down.
Two Greek F-16 fighter jets were scrambled after the Helios Airlines jet, en route from Larnaca in Cyprus to Athens, lost contact with the control tower at Athens international airport.
One of the F-16 pilots reported that he could not see the captain in the cockpit, and his co-pilot appeared to be slumped in his seat, a Defence Ministry official 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," said witness Dimitris Karezas, who owns a summer camp in the area.
"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.
The Greek Defence Ministry said the airplane had been carrying 115 passengers and had crashed in the Kalamos area, 30km north of Athens.
The official said police and military helicopters were at the scene, an uninhabited mountainous bushland area which is difficult to reach. Dozens of ambulances were also on their way.
AdvertisementAdvertisementMilitary helicopters spotted some debris and smoke but no movement on the ground.
The Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis broke off his holiday on the Greek island of Tinos to head back to Athens.
Cypriot Transport Minister Haris Thrassou confirmed communications with the aircraft had been interrupted before the crash.
Helios, Cyprus' first private carrier, established in 1999, flies to Dublin, Sofia, Warsaw, Prague, Strasbourg and several British airports using a fleet of Boeing B737 aircraft."
I heard that the plane had a problem with it's air conditioning and so the temperature was under 60 degrees celcious. the pilots froze to death
and the plane didn't go down where it had to. somebody msged his cousin and said that the pilots were dead and he that he was freezing along with the other passengers. then he said goodbye. that is so tragic. people keep on searching for parts of the plane that crashed on a mountain.
I am from cyprus and I am sooo worried, I hope there wasn't anyone I know on the plane
OH, wow...that's horrible...I didn't realize you could freeze like that...But if there was a problem with the temp, why didn't they make an emergency landing somewhere?
Just sounds weird about the temp....I can't imagine people freezing to death in 10 mins....didn't realize that a plane could get that cold to do so, in such a short time period...but, I guess anythings possible.
very weird.
would they have time to fly low if the temperature dropped suddenly?
i mean, -60 is pretty damn extreem. could very well cause them to instantly lose conciousness i think.
Gender: Unspecified Location: With Cinderella and the 9 Dwarves
This is true....although it depends how it happened..if just the heat didn't work it should have been possiblöe...but maybe the heat in teh Cokpit dropped instantly....I don't know...
I used to work for American Airlines and I remember that in the cargo bay where they keep pets and such it doesnt get that cold....cold yes, but not enough to hurt pets....As I remembered....the cargo area is not heated or anything like that...but I could be wrong.
KMC Community Forums
that is so tragic. people keep on searching for parts of the plane that crashed on a mountain.
Aug 14th, 2005 11:04 AM
