Greek investigators are expected to arrive in Cyprus late Tuesday to conclude the final part of their probe into the Cypriot airline that crashed near Athens a fortnight ago killing all 121 on board.
The people of Cyprus are still recovering from the tragic shock that wiped out complete families, when the last of the burials of the victims took place over the weekend.
However, two more bodies from the fatal flight on August 14 are still missing, with more than 150 Greek policemen deployed at the crash site to search for traces of their bodies, investigators said.
Experts from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing were also reportedly on the site of the accident, looking for clues into the crash of the 737-300 passenger jet.
Akrivos Tsolakis, who heads the Greek commission investigating all aspects of the Helios Airways disaster at Grammatiko, is expected to probe the files of the Cyprus civil aviation, air traffic control and aircraft inspection services, and will also interview employees and executives of the privately-held airline.
He will remain on the island for four days.
The timing of Tsolakis’ arrival is also crucial to cool the political row that has erupted among the Cyprus government and the opposition, with the Democratic Rally (DISY) party leader Nicos Anastassiades demanding Monday a comprehensive criminal investigation that would not spare civil servants.
Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos responded with a two-page statement to defend the work of the commission appointed by his cabinet, calling the opposition’s claims as “unjustifiable” and “simply creating more confusion.”
The president’s reaction and statement did little to calm the concerns of the victims’ families, who are demanding that all those responsible for the crash be punished.
The victims’ families were also upset by news of the implementation of a previous decision of the Greek government to transform the Grammatiko area to a dump site, with bulldozers expected to start work on Thursday.
“This is immoral and against the decisions of the local townspeople and the Orthodox Church of Greece to build a chapel and memorial on the site,” reporter Popi Soufli of the local Attica News was quoted as saying on Cyprus state television, RIK.
Helios Flight 522 had been flying from Cyprus with 115 passengers and six crew when it crashed into a mountainous region near the village of Grammatiko, about 25 miles north of Athens, in Greece’s worst air disaster.
Investigators are examining reports that the plane’s pilots were incapacitated by a possible loss of cabin pressure but have not determined precisely what went wrong on the flight before it crashed.
A former chief mechanic at Helios said the plane lost cabin pressure during a December flight after a door apparently was not sealed properly.
