Boy, five, was alive after Cypriot plane crashed

Derek Gatopoulos, Athens

A post-mortem examination on the boy's body which was found burned indicated he had breathed in soot from a fire sparked by the plane crash.

The boy "did not die instantly after the crash". "He was alive," said Nikos Kalogrias, part of a six-member team of coroners investigating Sunday's Helios Airways crash that left 121 people dead.

But results of later toxicology tests conducted to determine the cause of death showed the boy died of massive injuries to the head and body and had inhaled only a small amount of soot, consistent with drawing his last breath, said Kalogrias part of a six-member team of coroners investigating Sunday's crash, which left all 121 people aboard dead.

Meanwhile, families began burying victims and coroners examined the 92 bodies that remain unidentified to see if anything on board made them lose consciousness before the crash.

Autopsy results on 26 bodies identified by relatives have shown passengers and at least two crew members including the co-pilot were alive when the plane slammed into a hillside north of Athens. But coroners hoped further tests would show whether toxic gases possibly had rendered them unconscious.

Investigators were still searching for the remains of three people, including the pilot.

Greek air force jets were scrambled when the plane lost contact with air traffic control Sunday morning. The fighter pilots reported seeing the co-pilot slumped over in the cockpit, apparently unconscious, and said the pilot was not in his seat. The fighter pilots also said they later saw two unidentified people in the cockpit, possibly trying to regain control of the aircraft.

Chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis said someone else on the plane, apart from the pilot and co-pilot, had flight training. He would not elaborate.

Coroner Nikos Karakousis said medical examiners had taken urine and other samples from the remains of at least two crew members as part of that effort.

"The one sure fact is that the passengers were alive when the plane crashed," Karakousis said. "What we are looking for now is the cause which apparently led to the possible loss of consciousness though it is not sure that this happened."

The plane's flight data recorder has been sent to Paris for examination. The voice recorder appears to be damaged beyond use.

Investigators were also checking into claims that the plane had suffered past technical problems.

A former chief mechanic for Helios, Kyriakos Pilavakis, said the Boeing 737-300 had lost cabin pressure during a flight in December, after a door apparently was not sealed properly.

British pilots' union Balpa has urged Greek authorities to release quickly a preliminary report on the crash to end "widespread concern" about what actually happened.

Balpa chairman Captain Mervyn Granshaw said: "There have been several apparently conflicting reports and a number of statements that just don't add up.

"For instance, if there was a sudden decompression and the pilots were unable to get on their masks in a few seconds, or if the system was in some way faulty, that might well be the prime cause of the tragedy."

He added: "But a sudden decompression would affect passengers similarly. They may have managed to get on their oxygen masks, but it seems inconceivable that they would have walked up to the cockpit, seen the pilots, wrestled with the controls or sent text messages to their relatives.

"In fact, we now know text messages were not sent. The police have arrested the person claiming to have received them.

"There is concern in our industry to learn, as quickly as possible, what happened, so we urge speedy reporting."

Meanwhile, Flight International have said photographs circulated on the internet purporting to be pictures taken from the cockpit of a Lockheed Martin F-16 as it intercepted the Helios Boeing 737-300 that crashed are fake.

The pictures were identified as high-quality fakes as they show a Helios 737-800, rather than the -300.

Efforts to disguise this have been made by doctoring the registration to that of the crashed aircraft.

Unanswered questions.

The cockpit voice recorder: Officials on Monday said it was found intact though damaged and was being sent to France. On Tuesday, officials said the device was ejected from its cover and was useless.

The pilot: He was not in the cockpit of the plane before it crashed.

His was one of only three bodies not found.

He was not known by the German pilots' union, though one aviation authority said he had a valid pilot's licence.

Helios, the airline whose plane crashed, admitted that it was unsure when he commenced work at the airline.

There are gaps in his employment.

The loss of pressure: Why didn't pilots hear a warning system signalling loss of pressure and dive to safe level?

What happened to the back-up oxygen system for cockpit?