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Crash plane had past problems
16/08/2005 20:38 - (SA)
Nicosia - The Cypriot airline whose plane crashed in Greece at the weekend killing all 121 people on board admitted on Tuesday the aircraft involved had prior cabin pressure problems but insisted it met safety standards.
"In Helios's six-year history, we have only experienced one incident of decompression on our aircraft," Helios Airways said in an internet statement.
"We can confirm that the aircraft that experienced the decompression problem was the aircraft that was involved in this accident," it said.
Helios, the island's sole private carrier, said the aircraft was flying from Warsaw to Larnaca and landed in accordance with normal procedures, "under the circumstances".
It said the aircraft had been cleared by Cyprus's air accident investigators and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority. "The maintenance of the aircraft was not questioned at any time by the authorities," the statement said.
The Boeing 737 circled for about 90 minutes before making a turn towards Athens and, according to a senior Greek government source, crashing probably due to having run out of fuel.
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