Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-08-16

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece observes day of mourning, relatives conclude identification of bodies of air crash victims

[02] Development minister briefs PM ahead of Thessaloniki Int'l Trade Fair

[01] Greece observes day of mourning, relatives conclude identification of bodies of air crash victims

Flags were at half-mast in public buildings, while three moments of silence were observed at 12 noon throughout the private and public sector.

Relatives of the victims of the air crash concluded the grim process of identifying the bodies of their loved ones late on Monday evening.

Of the 118 bodies recovered so far, 45 which were considered to be recognisable were sent to the morgue at Laiko Hospital in Goudi for identification.

Of the 45 bodies, 24 were identified, 6 were not claimed and the remaining 15 were not recognisable.

The bodies at Goudi that remain unidentified, as well as the others which are deemed unrecognisable and are kept at Schisto, will undergo DNA testing.

Relatives of the unidentified victims were asked to submit blood samples in order for DNA testing to begin. Testing will begin on Tuesday; results are expected in 10-12 days.

The search for the remaining three bodies which have yet to be recovered will continue at the crash site.

Reports, meanwhile, said that the individual that a fighter pilot spotted in the cockpit of the Cypriot airliner desperately trying to regain control of the aircraft shortly before it crashed was apparently a flight attendant.

The body of the woman, who was found near the cockpit of the Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 jet, was identified by coroners on Tuesday, part of continuing efforts to identify the remains of the 121 people that died in the crash.

Just as importantly, another two medical examiners on Tuesday ruled that all of the victims examined so far were alive at the point of impact, with the cause of death resulting from massive injuries sustained in the crash.

One-hundred and fifteen passengers and six crew members were killed in the crash that occurred Sunday in the hilly region of Grammatikos, some 40 kilometers north of Athens. The plane, which departed Larnaca airport on Cyprus for Prague via Athens, never made contact with air traffic controllers at the Eleftherios Venizelos airport in Athens upon entering the Athens FIR. Two Hellenic Air Force F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the plane to the airport shortly after it neared the Cyclades island of Naxos, according to reports. It was the pilot of one of the two warplanes that spotted the co-pilot slumped in his seat and the mysterious figure attempting to regain control of the aircraft.

In a related development, a memorial service was held on Tuesday adjacent to the crash site and a C-130 plane took off from Elefsina military airport at 8:05 p.m. on Tuesday carrying to Larnaca, Cyprus, the bodies of 23 victims of the Cypriot plane which crashed near Athens on Sunday.

[02] Development minister briefs PM ahead of Thessaloniki Int'l Trade Fair

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