Case Adjourned Until April Amid Emotional Courtroom Scene

Three executives of the former Helios Airways made a brief appearance in a Cyprus court last week to face charges of manslaughter and negligent death in connection with the August 2005 crash of a Helios Boeing 737-300 that claimed the lives of all 121 persons on board.

Four Helios execs and the airline itself are named in the suit, but as one of the defendants was ill and unable to appear in court, the case was adjourned until April. The defendants have not yet entered a plea, but face maximum penalties of life imprisonment if convicted.

Reuters reports that dozens of relatives of crash victims jammed the courtroom, dressed in black and displaying pictures of loved ones lost in the fatal accident. Speaking for the relatives, Nicolas Yasoumis said, "We have been waiting for justice for more than three years. It won't bring them back, but we hope that there will be exemplary punishment."

As ANN reported, a Greek Board of Inquiry that investigated the incident concluded that the pilots of Flight ZU522 were rendered unconscious shortly after takeoff from Cyprus due to a lack of oxygen because of improperly set pressurization controls. The plane then continued on autopilot for another two hours before crashing into mountainous terrain near Athens.

The Board's report blamed the crash on several factors, including deficient technical checks made by Helios Airways before the plane ever took off, cites Boeing for not addressing previously reported pressurization problems in other 737s, and the failure of the pilots to take quick action when it appeared the oxygen pressurization system was defective.

FMI: www.flyhelios.com (Now a Cyprus tourism site)