NEWS

A year on, service for victims of air crash

More than 150 mourners from Greece and Cyprus gathered north of Athens on Monday at the spot where a Cypriot airliner crashed a year earlier, killing all 121 people on board. Some of the families of the people killed in the Helios Airways crash demanded answers about the causes of the accident so that people could be held accountable for the worst air disaster in Greek history. A memorial service was held at a church in Nea Makri, near the site of Grammatiko where the plane crashed into a hill after running out of fuel. Some relatives of those killed in the crash derided pledges by Cyprus’s ambassador to Greece, Giorgos Georgis, that authorities would bring those responsible for the crash to justice. The victims’ families say they fear a cover-up. Ilias Pavlakis, a lawyer representing the families, told Reuters news agency that «at least half» of them had filed compensation claims against Boeing. He added that a court of first instance in Chicago would begin assessing next Tuesday whether the case can be tried in the USA. A spokesman for the families, Nicolas Yiasoumis, said the families are accusing Boeing of «failures in its alarm systems and the pressurization of the aircraft.» Investigators are due to deliver their final report on the crash next month. They are also expected to confirm soon whether three skeletons found at the crash site last week are those of the three passengers whose bodies have yet to be recovered.

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