NO FLIGHT checks have been carried out on any aircraft in Cyprus in the past 10 months, despite airline companies paying thousands of pounds to the Department of Civil Aviation, a senior official revealed yesterday.
The revelations came in the wake of the August 14 Helios Airways crash in Greece, which killed all 121 on board.
Sir,
I have always wanted to visit your country. I studied Greek and worked on a Cypriot freighter in my youth. I was trained to be a sailor by a Cypriot crew. In my memory it was the best of times.
Dear Sir,
The story had the following stand-first: “They were not wearing helmets”, and continued with the main headline: “Two fatalities…”
After the recent tragedies which have brought Cyprus to its knees this summer, the above story just ran without much ado in the newspapers.
THE bodies of 50 more passengers who died in the Helios Airways crash in Greece on August 14 were expected to be flown back to Cyprus last night on board two Greek air force C-130 transport planes.
The bodies of 116 passengers of the fatal flight, which killed all 121 on board, have now been identified.
Ninety were identified through DNA testing and 26 by relatives.
A SECOND preliminary report on the causes of the August 14 Helios Airways crash in Greece, which killed all 121 on board, could be issued by Greek investigators, the head of the Cypriot air-accident investigating committee said yesterday.
Costas Orfanos said a second report could be issued in the next few days.
THE MEDIA Complaints Commission yesterday slammed press coverage of the Helios air crash and is summoning media chiefs to a meeting to discuss its concerns.
AN Helios Airways spokesman yesterday confirmed that one of the company’s two Boeing 737-800s “has rejoined our fleet with a clean bill of health”.
The plane had been flown on Sunday to Sweden where it underwent a comprehensive, two-day check under the supervision of Boeing experts. Helios had said the check was in order to ease public concern.
CYPRUS Airways (CY) is examining the possibility of adding a fuel surcharge to its fares, an airline spokesman said yesterday.
“We are not increasing fares but introducing a fuel surcharge,” said spokesman Tassos Angelis. ‘There has been no decision yet but we expect one soon.”
THE increasing numbers of foreign nationals slipping through the Green Line from the north has heightened concerns about terrorism, according to Phileleftheros.
It said there was increasing concern in the secret services (KYP), quoting a source as saying some individuals had known links to extremist organisations and were being monitored by KYP.
THE Ministry of Health yesterday issued guidelines for people travelling to areas affected by bird or avian flu.
“The public are urged to avoid visiting markets or poultry farms and to avoid contact with live poultry.
“People should also avoid contact with surfaces that appear to be polluted with the excrement of poultry or other animals.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
