Crash victims were ‘frozen solid’

ATHENS – Most of the bodies recovered from the Cypriot plane that crashed into a mountain near Athens with 121 people on board were “frozen solid,” a Greek Defence Ministry source said yesterday.

“Autopsy on passengers so far shows the bodies were frozen solid, including some whose skin was charred by flames from the crash,” the source, with access to the investigation, told Reuters. Early indications suggest the 115 passengers and six crew were dead or unconscious when the Helios Airways Boeing 737 plunged to earth on Sunday.There were no survivors.Rescue workers recovered the pilot’s body and said they had also found the plane’s black box flight recorders, including the one that records pilot conversations, crucial to determining the cause of the worst air disaster in Greece and the worst involving a Cypriot airline.Relatives of some victims, many already enraged by delays in Helios Airways releasing details of passengers on board, were on their way from Cyprus to the crash site near Athens to start the grim task of trying to identify loved ones.At Larnaca airport in Cyprus, from where the doomed plane took off on Sunday, crew and passengers yesterday refused to board an aircraft belonging to Helios Airways, the state-run Cyprus News Agency reported.About 100 passengers due to fly from Larnaca to Sofia demanded to travel on planes of other airlines.”First the crew refused to board, then the passengers,” it said.The Mediterranean island of Cyprus started three days of mourning with flags at half mast in a long weekend holiday that is the busiest of the summer for Greeks and Cypriots.Sunday’s crash perplexed aviation experts astounded by what appeared to have been a catastrophic failure of cabin pressure or oxygen supply at 35 000 feet – nearly 10 kilometres up, higher than Mount Everest.Many questions remained, including how the plane appeared to fly for nearly an hour with the pilot and co-pilot already unconscious or dead.Media speculated the plane may have been on auto pilot before its approach to Athens airport.There was also mystery over the last minutes of the flight which was declared “renegade” when it entered Greek air space and failed to make radio contact, causing two F-16 air force jets to scramble to investigate.Cypriot Transport Minister Haris Thrassou strongly denied some media reports that there were 48 children among the dead.”There were between 15 and 20 young people below the age of 20 on board the crashed plane,” he told Reuters, adding they were all travelling with their families.The plane was on a flight from Larnaca to Prague with a stop in Athens when it came down 40 km north of the Greek capital.Greek authorities ruled out hijacking or terrorism links to the crash.Greek Defence Ministry officials said 90 minutes elapsed between the alert being raised at 10:30am and the plane crashing at 12:03pm.- Nampa-ReutersEarly indications suggest the 115 passengers and six crew were dead or unconscious when the Helios Airways Boeing 737 plunged to earth on Sunday.There were no survivors.Rescue workers recovered the pilot’s body and said they had also found the plane’s black box flight recorders, including the one that records pilot conversations, crucial to determining the cause of the worst air disaster in Greece and the worst involving a Cypriot airline.Relatives of some victims, many already enraged by delays in Helios Airways releasing details of passengers on board, were on their way from Cyprus to the crash site near Athens to start the grim task of trying to identify loved ones.At Larnaca airport in Cyprus, from where the doomed plane took off on Sunday, crew and passengers yesterday refused to board an aircraft belonging to Helios Airways, the state-run Cyprus News Agency reported.About 100 passengers due to fly from Larnaca to Sofia demanded to travel on planes of other airlines.”First the crew refused to board, then the passengers,” it said.The Mediterranean island of Cyprus started three days of mourning with flags at half mast in a long weekend holiday that is the busiest of the summer for Greeks and Cypriots.Sunday’s crash perplexed aviation experts astounded by what appeared to have been a catastrophic failure of cabin pressure or oxygen supply at 35 000 feet – nearly 10 kilometres up, higher than Mount Everest.Many questions remained, including how the plane appeared to fly for nearly an hour with the pilot and co-pilot already unconscious or dead.Media speculated the plane may have been on auto pilot before its approach to Athens airport.There was also mystery over the last minutes of the flight which was declared “renegade” when it entered Greek air space and failed to make radio contact, causing two F-16 air force jets to scramble to investigate. Cypriot Transport Minister Haris Thrassou strongly denied some media reports that there were 48 children among the dead.”There were between 15 and 20 young people below the age of 20 on board the crashed plane,” he told Reuters, adding they were all travelling with their families.The plane was on a flight from Larnaca to Prague with a stop in Athens when it came down 40 km north of the Greek capital.Greek authorities ruled out hijacking or terrorism links to the crash.Greek Defence Ministry officials said 90 minutes elapsed between the alert being raised at 10:30am and the plane crashing at 12:03pm.- Nampa-Reuters