Greek air disaster of 2005 goes to Cyprus court

Executives of the privately owned Cypriot Helios Airways airline, which has suspended operations, and the airline itself face charges of manslaughter and of causing death through negligence in a highly charged case.

Investigators say lack of oxygen knocked unconscious almost everyone on board the Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 flight travelling from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague on August 14 2005.

It flew on autopilot for two hours before smashing into a hillside north of Athens from lack of fuel.

Three of four individuals facing charges made a brief appearance before a local magistrate Thursday, as dozens of relatives clad in black held pictures of young couples and children who were victims of the disaster. The case was adjourned to April because the fourth defendant is ill.

"We have been waiting for justice for more than three years," said Nicolas Yasoumis, a spokesman for the relatives.

"It won't bring them back, but we hope that there will be exemplary punishment," he said.

The individuals concerned have not yet entered a plea and, if convicted, they face maximum penalties of life in jail.

Investigators believe the victims on the flight were knocked unconscious a few minutes after the plane took off.

Greek air force pilots, scrambled to trail the plane when it lost contact, saw a man grappling at controls in an oxygen mask. The man, identified as a flight attendant with a trainee pilots' licence, was thought to be the only one conscious on the flight.

An inquiry by Greek authorities released in October 2006 blamed the crash on failures to see that a gauge regulating oxygen was on the wrong setting. It also cited deficiencies in the safety culture of the airline.

The executives were ferried out of the courthouse by police through a teeming crowd of people holding family photographs. "I want them to lose everything, just like I lost everything," one woman screamed.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas; Editing by Louise Ireland)