Man arrested over air crash text message

POLICE in Greece arrested a man yesterday who claimed to have received a text message from a passenger onboard the Cypriot airliner which crashed, killing 121 people.

Police identified the man as Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32. He told Greek television stations his cousin onboard sent him a text message minutes before the crash saying: “Farewell, cousin, here we’re frozen.”

Authorities said yesterday they had determined he was lying, saying the cousin’s name was not on the Cypriot government’s official list of victims.