Recorder Missing In Greece Crash
Autopsies Indicate That Some Victims Alive When Jet Went Down
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Play CBS Video Video Greek Jet Crash A Mystery Air crash investigators in Greece have a mystery on their hands. All 121 people died aboard a jetliner that plowed into a hillside near Athens, but many may have died in-flight. Bob Orr reports.
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Video Greek Air Crash A Mystery In Greece, that nation's worst air disaster is now an incredible mystery. All 121 passengers and crew were killed, and they may have been dead before the plane went down. Mark Phillips reports.
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Rescuers work around by the tail of a Cypriot Helios Airways jet near the coastal town of Grammatikos, about 25 miles north of Athens, Greece on Aug. 14, 2005. (AP)
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Relatives of a victim of the Helios Airways plane that crashed Sunday wait at at Larnaca International airport before boarding a plane heading to Athens on Aug 15, 2005. (AP)
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(CBS)
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Interactive Air Disasters Review the worst air disasters in the past four decades, see how safety officials investigate plane crashes and more.
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Fast Facts Greece Learn about the people, economy and history.
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Fast Facts Cyprus Learn about the people, economy and history.
In Berlin, police were guarding the house at the address where the Cypriot government said the pilot lived — a gray stucco house surrounded by a tidy, tree-filled garden in a quiet Berlin neighborhood near the Schoenefeld airport.
The name on the mailbox said Merten. Neighbors confirmed his first name was Hans-Juergen and said he was a pilot in his 50s, but refused to provide any other details.
The airliner's pilots had reported air conditioning system problems about a half-hour after takeoff, and Greek state TV quoted Cyprus' transport minister as saying the plane had decompression problems in the past.
But a Helios representative said the plane had "no problems and was serviced just last week."
A man who claimed to have received a telephone text message from a passenger on the plane faced a preliminary hearing Tuesday for disseminating false information and causing a public disturbance.
Police on Monday arrested Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32, who had called Greek television stations shortly after the crash. He claimed a cousin on board had sent him a cell-phone text message saying: "Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen."
The report that the plane was cold was taken as a sign of decompression — one of the possible explanations authorities have given for the crash. But police said they determined the suspect's story was false.
© MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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