Cyprus court adjourns Greek plane crash case

A Cyprus court on Thursday adjourned until June 4 a case against four people charged over a plane crash in 2005 that killed 121.

The four executives and the airline, privately owned Helios Airways, are charged with manslaughter and causing death by negligence.

Investigators say a lack of oxygen knocked unconscious nearly everyone on board the Boeing 737-300 flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Prague on Aug. 14, 2005.

The plane flew on autopilot for two hours before crashing into a hillside north of Athens, having run out of fuel.

The charges hinge on the allegation that the company hired incompetent pilots.

Relatives of the victims sat on the steps outside the court, holding photographs of their loved ones.

"I'm not expecting them to do anything. They will just hush the whole thing up," a grief-stricken mother whose daughter and husband died in the crash told Reuters.

Another woman, dressed from top to toe in black and clutching a photograph of her relatives, called the flight a "flying coffin".

The individuals charged will not enter their pleas to court until the case has been referred to the court of assizes. It had previously been adjourned until April because the fourth defendant was seriously ill.

Investigators believe the victims fell unconscious just minutes after take-off. Greek air force pilots, scrambled to trail the plane when it lost contact, saw a man, later identified as a flight attendant with a trainee pilot's licence, grappling at the controls while wearing an oxygen mask. It is believed he was the only one conscious on board.

Failure to notice that a gauge regulating oxygen was on the wrong setting has been blamed for the crash after an inquiry by Greek authorities in 2006. Deficiencies in the safety culture of the airline were also cited.

The individuals charged were escorted via a back entrance into court after a heated reception by angry relatives back in February. (R)