Athens court sentences Helios execs over 2005 air crash

The Boeing 737-300, arriving from Larnaca early on August 14, crashed into a mountain near Athens in 2005 after its oxygen supply failed and the pilots and passengers fell unconscious.

An Athens court found the defendants guilty of manslaughter and negligence charges.

Lawyers for the four – Helios's former chief executive officer, Demetris Pantazis, its chief of flight operations, the firm's Bulgarian head pilot as well as a British engineer who had inspected the plane before it took off – said they had appealed against the decision.

The ruling came four months after a Cypriot court acquitted the three executives during a separate hearing over the accident.

Investigators have said the failure to switch a valve affected the oxygen supply to the aircraft shortly after the plane took off from Larnaca airport .

The aircraft flew on autopilot in Greek air space for two hours before it ran out of fuel and smashed into a hillside.