We must never again allow delay, apathy and inefficiency to lead to loss of human lives, such as that of the “Helios” air tragedy, President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said on Friday evening.
In his address at the memorial service for the victims of the “Helios” air tragedy, which was presided over by Bishop Varnavas of Trimithus, at the Chapel of Panagia Eleftherotria and Agia Paraskevi, in Mosfiloti, the President of the Republic said that “the feelings I have are strong and very mixed whenever I attend such occasions, even more when I attend the chapel dedicated to Panagia Eleutherotria and Agia Paraskevi, which is the most striking proof of human strength”.
He added that “the crash of the Helios aircraft in Grammatiko, is the worst tragedy in the history of Cypriot aviation, which led to the death of all 121 passengers”.
President Christodoulides expressed “his respect and admiration for Vassos Georgiou, who found the courage and had the faith, perseverance and strength to complete the wonderful project that he and his wife Mary had envisioned and started”.
He noted that the monument was erected “from the soul deposit of Vassos, but also of all those who worked selflessly and supported in any way they could the effort to complete the holy church where we are today”.
Let us never again, he continued, “allow delay, apathy and inefficiency to lead to the loss of human lives”.
At the same time, he assured that “the Government will immediately proceed with the implementation of what has been announced by the previous Government” and expressed the certainty that “any financial compensation in no way can alleviate the pain, but it is a chapter and one that, I promise you, will be closed on the basis of the relevant announcement of the previous Government”.
The flight
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The aircraft, a Boeing 737-300, departed in the morning of August 14, 2005 from Larnaca airport to Prague via Athens. At 10.15 am the aircraft entered the National Airspace of Athens, but without making any contact with the Control Tower.
At 11:05, two F-16 fighters took off from Nea Aghialos Air Base, which made visual contact with the plane at 11:18 and found that the co-pilot of the aircraft was unconscious, the captain was not in his position while the plane’s oxygen masks system had been activated.
As evidenced by the investigations, the aircraft was flying on automatic pilot with all passengers unconscious except one flight attendant, Andreas Prodromou, who was trying to take control of the airplane. At 12.05 the aircraft crashed in the mountainous region of Grammatiko, killing the 115 passengers and six-member crew.
Court ruling
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On February 18, 2013, the Nicosia Criminal Court acquitted of all charges all the defendants in the case, following the stay of the criminal prosecution the Attorney General’s Office had filed against all the accused, natural persons, and Helios airlines.
The accused were Helios’ Executive Chairman, Andreas Drakos, the company’s Managing Director, Demetris Pantazis, Director of Flight Operations, Giorgos Kikkides, as well chief pilot of the company, Janko Stoimenof.
The Court of Appeal of Athens had upheld the conviction imposed by the first instance court, the three-member Misdemeanor Court of Athens, with its decision of February 7, 2013. The sentence, 122 years in prison for each defendant, was changed to a ten-year sentence and subsequently to a fine. After paying approximately pound 73,000, they were released.
Based on the principle that no one is tried by two countries for the same crime, it was expected that they would be removed from the Cypriot indictment. The Attorney General ruled that the prosecution should be stayed for all the accused citing insurmountable difficulties in pursuing the case.
Source: Cyprus News Agency