UGLY:

'The pilots are unconscious ... farewell, cousin, we're frozen' (PAUL ANASTASI IN ATHENS AND MIKE THEODULOU IN CYPRUS, 8/15/05, The Scotsman)

ONE hundred and fifteen passengers on a doomed airliner were aware of their imminent death for up to 45 minutes but were unable to prevent the plane from crashing, killing everyone on board.

Terrified occupants of Helios Airways flight ZU522, from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague via Athens, may even have attempted to seize control of the plane after an apparent oxygen supply or pressurisation problem caused the pilots to lose consciousness.

Greek officials believe the Cypriot Boeing 737 aircraft was flying on auto-pilot and ran out of fuel when it crashed into a hillside north of Athens yesterday, killing all 115 passengers and six crew.

Initial suspicions of an act of terrorism or a hijacking receded as indications grew of a technical failure, including perhaps decompression. It is possible that passengers and cabin crew had access to oxygen for themselves but were unaware that the pilots on the other side of the locked flight-deck door were unconscious as temperatures in both cabins plunged. Many of the passengers may have been alive when the plane crashed.

Sotiris Voutas said he received a text message from a cousin who was on the plane minutes before the crash. "He told me the pilots were unconscious. [He texted] 'Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen'." [...]

Angry relatives, who waited six hours to be told if their loved ones were aboard the flight, had to be restrained by police as they were finally allowed to check their names against the passenger list.

A spokesman for the fire brigade said a blaze had resulted in the bodies being charred beyond recognition.

Helios Airways is a small, privately owned airline with four aircraft that operates a handful of scheduled flights to London, Athens, some Greek islands and eastern European destinations.

The airline caters mainly for Cypriots, Greeks and British holidaymakers and businessmen who travel between Cyprus, Greece and Britain.