IN A LETTER sent to the Helios crash investigators, the legal team representing ajet – the company formerly known as Helios airways – has claimed that new evidence has surfaced demonstrating Helios Airline followed all safety requirements before the crash.
The intervention comes at the tail end of a year long investigation and less than two weeks before investigative committee head Akrivos Tsolakis is set to release the final report on the causes behind last year’s August 14 crash in Grammatiko, Greece, that killed all 121 passengers and crew on board.
Christos Neocleous, a lawyer for the airline, claimed the document proves that Helios did in fact address all of the problems and deficiencies with the airplane that had been noted by two British experts before the crash.
Politis yesterday reported that in light of this document the airline has requested that the investigation start again from the beginning, but Neocleous refuted that claim on state radio yesterday.
“We are not seeking to start the investigation anew,” Neocleous said, adding that they instead “wanted to be 100 per cent sure that Mr. Tsolakis has seen this document” and included it in the final report.
Neocleous said that it was possible Tsolakis was already aware of the document but that he could not know for certain as the contents of Tsolakis’ final report have yet to be released.
Neocleous claims that the new evidence arose from the testimonies of key witnesses and emphasised that its incorporation was essential “for the legality of the procedure”.
“We are not trying to win points in a political game, nor impress public opinion,” Neocleous said. “We are merely trying to make sure responsibilities are doled out where they belong.
“If the company bears responsibilities then it will pay for them,” he said, but then added that if certain crucial pieces of evidence are ignored, thereby “tricking certain people that still suffer from the effects of this accident, then we will not take part in this game.”
Testimonies of key witnesses later in the day yesterday seemed to contradict the airline’s claim that it had not violated aviation safety regulations.
