Europe News

Cypriot prosecutors to charge five over 2005 Helios air crash

Nov 4, 2008, 16:05 GMT

Athens/Nicosia - Cypriot public prosecutors said on Tuesday they would bring criminal charges against five people for the 2005 Helios airplane crash which killed 121 people.

The prosecutors did not name the individuals they plan to charge.

The Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 was on its way from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague when it experienced problems and crashed into a mountain just outside of Athens on August 14, killing everyone on board.

The plane had been flying on autopilot in Greek airspace for more than two hours as a flight attendant with a trainee pilot's license tried to land the plane.

Two Greek F-16 fighter jets tried to intercept the plane and said they saw the pilot unconscious over the controls.

The passengers were also believed to have lost consciousness before the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the mountain.

An inquiry into the crash found that a gauge which controlled the oxygen on the plane was on the wrong setting.