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Flight attendant tried to fly doomed Cypriot plane

By wire services
Published December 20, 2005

ATHENS, Greece - A flight attendant tried to save a Cypriot airliner that crashed near Athens earlier this year, wrestling with controls for at least 10 minutes before the Helios Airways flight went down, investigators said Monday.

All 121 people on board were killed when the Boeing 737-300 crashed Aug. 14. The plane apparently lost cabin pressure, incapacitating the pilots, and eventually ran out of fuel.

Senior investigator Serafeim Kamoutsis said 25-year-old Cypriot flight attendant Andreas Prodromou entered the cockpit at least 10 minutes before the crash, while the plane was in a holding pattern and the pilots were unconscious or partially conscious.

Kamoutsis declined to say how investigators know the flight attendant, who had some pilot training, tried to fly the plane.

Chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis said he believed the Cypriot airliner suffered a "partial and not total loss of pressure" and that the flight attendant remained conscious because he found a portable supply of oxygen.

"We are still investigating why the pilots continued their ascent and did not respond properly," Tsolakis said.

Greek investigators are due to issue their first report in February, but their findings will not be made public until June, pending recommendations from other investigative agencies and Boeing.

Former Nazi commander acquitted of massacres

MUNICH, Germany - A former Nazi commander was acquitted of murder in three massacres in Slovakia after a court said Monday there was no reliable evidence he was involved in the killings.

Ladislav Niznansky, 88, sat stone-faced as his acquittal on 164 counts of murder was announced in the Munich state court.

The charges against him were filed in connection with the slaughter of 146 men, women and children in two Slovak villages and the later killing of 18 Jewish civilians.

Fight with army deserters kills 300 rebels in Chad

N'DJAMENA, Chad - Government forces clashed with army deserters in an eastern border town, killing about 300 militants in the biggest recent offensive against rebels, officials said Monday.

Five soldiers and three civilians also died in Sunday's raid to retake control of Adre, the army said in a statement.

Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa and the army said some 300 rebels were killed, although the claim couldn't be independently verified. Representatives of the rebels were not immediately available for comment.

That death toll would be the largest in recent fighting with deserters reportedly seeking to overthrow President Idriss Deby.

Colombian search fails to find U.S. helicopter

BOGOTA, Colombia - A Colombian deep-sea search vessel has failed to locate the wreckage of a U.S. Navy helicopter that crashed in the Caribbean during an antidrug operation, officials said Monday.

All three American sailors aboard the SH-60B Seahawk were killed when the helicopter went down Dec. 13 shortly after takeoff from the U.S. Navy frigate DeWert. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

[Last modified December 20, 2005, 01:51:07]