Flight recorders recovered from wreckage

The black boxes have been recovered from the wreckage of the Cypriot airliner in which all 121 passengers and crew lost their lives.

The incident, the worst ever air accident in Greece, occurred near to Athens at around 12.00pm local time (9.00am BST) on Sunday when Helios Airways Flight 522 plunged into a hillside. The only identifiable portion of the aircraft, a Boeing 737, was the tail section.

It is believed that a sudden drop in cabin pressure may have knocked out both pilots. The crew of a Greek F-16 fighter jets, which were scrambled to intercept the airliner after air traffic controllers declared the flight "renegade" as they were unable to contact the plane by radio, reported seeing the pilots slumped at the controls as it flew at an altitude of 34,000 ft.

The pilots also reported that two unidentified individuals were seen apparently trying to take control of the aircraft. The oxygen masks had also apparently been deployed in the cabin.

Initial tests on some of the victims' bodies indicate that many passengers had frozen to death before the plane crashed into the hillside.

Cyprus has declared three days of national mourning in the wake of the tragedy.

(SP)