Man in doomed jet called ‘Mayday’

Brian Church, Athens

The man, apparently a flight attendant with pilot training, twice issued distress calls in the final ten minutes of Helios Airways Flight 522, chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis said.

"The second time was a couple of seconds before the crash," Tsolakis said, adding the man had "a very weak tone of voice".

It remains unclear how the would-be rescuer stayed conscious.

Earlier yesterday, Tsolakis issued a preliminary report on the August 14 crash, which killed all 115 passengers and six crew, that said the Boeing 737-300 lost cabin pressure and eventually ran out of fuel.

The report was the most comprehensive statement the government has released on the investigation since the crash. It came after pressure from the media and the airline industry for Greece and Cyprus to start answering questions about what caused the accident.

Still, it remained unclear what caused the loss of cabin pressure. Greek investigators, aided by the US National Transportation Safety Board, are continuing to probe the crash, the deadliest airline disaster for Greece and Cyprus and considered one of the most baffling in aviation history.

Tsolakis presented his initial findings following analysis of flight recorders and autopsies on all 118 bodies many still unidentified recovered from the site. Three bodies have not been found, including that of the plane's pilot, a German.

"The crash is like an explosion and the pilot's body may not necessarily have ended up close to the cockpit," Tsolakis said.