helios airways flight 522 victims photos

“Unfortunately, after the crash, there was a fire for a few hours and the bodies were completely burned,” he said grimly.Ī relative of a passenger gives a saliva sample for DNA testingĪ Helios official in Athens, George Dimitriou, confirmed that the passengers were largely Cypriots with “a certain number of Greeks and only a few foreigners”. He appealed to close relatives to travel so they could provide DNA samples for identification purposes. The airline later put out a statement, saying: “The names of the passengers were submitted in a timely manner to the authorities in Greece and Cyprus who have taken on the job of contacting the relatives.”ĭNA samples The minister said a flight out to Athens for bereaved relatives would leave at 9.30am (0630 GMT) on Monday. “They (Helios) also delayed in giving us lists for two to three hours when we and the police requested them.” “There should have been a complete list of names with more than just initials and surnames,” the minister said.

“It is not a definitive list but we are doing this to try to help the grieving relatives,” said Helios representative Nicos Anastassiades.Ĭommunications Minister Haris Thrassou echoed the families’ criticism of the airline’s inability to say precisely who was on board quickly. Several collapsed, overcome by grief, and were taken by stretcher out to waiting ambulances.Īirline officials acknowledged that they were still not sure that the manifest they were working from was the definitive list of passengers who actually boarded Flight 522 for Prague via Athens.īodies of the victims were burnt beyond recognition “I want them to bring my children back.”Ībout 300 anxious family members queued in the canteen of the island’s main international airport from which the doomed plane took off with 121 people on board to be told the devastating news one by one.

“Butchers, butchers, they killed my children,” one distraught relative screamed, echoing widespread fury with the airline, Helios Airways, the Mediterranean resort island’s only private carrier.

They were finally called in by airline staff to check a passenger list.

Helios airways flight 522 victims photos