THE HEALTH Minister met yesterday with relatives of victims of the Helios air crash after some of them called for better information on the proceedings to identity the remaining corpses.
The relatives sent their plea to the government on Sunday morning:
“We the relatives of the unrecognised corpses of the victims of the ill-fated Helios Airways flight of August 14, 2005 – in an effort to resolve the daily drama we are living and without having any official information from any government agency as to the developments of the recognition of the corpses of our relatives who so needlessly and prematurely lost their lives – have decided to send a public appeal to all of the government and state authorities with the hope that they will show compassion and do whatever is possible to resolve the identity of the corpses.”
The letter ended with a condemnation of the “irresponsible officials who appear every day on the mass media ‘exporting’ our own pain and desperation”.
Yesterday, Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides informed them that a further 27 bodies had been identified and would return to Cyprus last night. Three bodies, including that of the pilot, have not been found.
After meeting with the relatives, Gavrielides told the Cyprus Mail that he had informed the relatives that 27 more corpses – whose identity had been established through DNA tests – were being flown in to Laranaca later last night. He could not yet confirm what time they were arriving.
Gavrielides acknowledged that many of the victims’ families had grown frustrated earlier while waiting at the airport for the corpses to arrive, but said that the unfortunate delay had been due to “problems with the airplane”.
He also mentioned that he had not updated the relatives during the proceedings because he wanted to confirm the findings and did not want to create unnecessary grief for them. “They [the relatives] understand and want to move forward,” Gavrielides said. “Everything is under control now.”
The Health Ministry has also set up a committee to assist with the families of the victims, consisting of psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors and nurses.
Leonidas Leonidou, one of the relatives who met with the Health Minister, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the relatives were satisfied with the way that the government had responded.
“The Minister of Health already invited us to meet with him and updated us on how the recognition efforts are developing,” Leonidou said. “It appears they are doing whatever they can do. I believe that the purpose of our appeal has been achieved.
“They explained to us that the reason they had not told us some things earlier was they did not want to create additional upsets and they wanted to make sure that the corpses had been confirmed. I think that now it’s just a matter of time.”
