Carbon Monoxide not a factor in Cypriot plane crash deaths

The chief Athens coroner today said toxicological tests on the remains of the co-pilot, three flight attendants and two passengers from the crashed Cypriot jetliner showed they were not rendered unconscious by breathing carbon monoxide.

But Fillipos Koutsaftis did not rule out some other substance may have knocked out the crew and passengers before the Boeing 737-300 crashed into a mountainside on Sunday, killing all 121 people on board. He said a few more days were needed to run those toxicological tests.

Coroners tested for carbon monoxide because it could have been generated by a fire aboard the plane and knocked out the crew and passengers during the flight.

Helios Airways Flight ZU522 was flying from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens when it crashed just north of Athens.

“This was the fastest test and the most secure,” he said after meeting Justice Minister Anastatios Papaligouras. “We are still doing tests for other gases, poisons, drugs and alcohol.”

There has been speculation that an electrical fire or some other cause could have flooded the cabin with carbon monoxide, or another gas, rendering the passengers and crew unconscious during the flight.

“I don’t know and can’t rule out” that something else could have been responsible, Koutsaftis said.

Investigators also looking at the possibility that decompresion or lack of oxygen also could have been responsible.

He said the tests were carried out on co-pilot Pambos Haralambous, three female attendants, an infant and a random adult passenger to provide coroners with “a general sample” of the people aboard.

A team of six coroners has been conducting a series of toxicology tests on some of the 118 bodies recovered from the crash site. Crews were still searching for three bodies.

Tests for other substances should be ready by next week, coroners have said.

But if the results of all toxicology tests turn out negative, coroners still would not be able to rule out that some other factor could have made people on board lose consciousness, said another coroner, Nikos Kalogrias.

“We will shed ample light on the causes of this crash. There must not be any unanswered question. We owe this to this victims and their families,” Papaligouras said, refusing to give more information until the investigation was over. “I want to wait for the final report,” he said.

Autopsy results on 26 bodies identified so far have shown that some passengers and at least four crew members – including the co-pilot – were alive, but not necessarily conscious, when the plane crashed. The body of the plane’s German pilot has not been identified, and it was unclear if he was one of the three still missing.