THE REASONS for the Bell helicopter crash that killed the head of the national guard last month should become known early next week, Defence Minister Socrates Hasikos said yesterday.
The Bell 206 Long Ranger carrying National Guard Chief Evangelos Florakis and four other officers went down in the early morning hours of July 10, killing everyone on board. Ever since, speculation over the causes of the accident (foul play has been ruled out) has been fuelled by a controversy over whether the chopper was suitable for night flights. Hasikos has maintained throughout that the Bell choppers were properly equipped with night vision goggles (NVGs).
Some members of the House Defence Ministry even suggested that the Defence Ministry was attempting a cover-up trying to conceal the fact that the Bell choppers were unsuitable for night sorties.
Asked to comment on the findings of the Defence Ministry investigation, Hasikos said yesterday that it would be “improper to make guesses or predictions.”
“But I assure you that as soon as we have it we shall publicise it. As I promised, there shall be full transparency regarding the causes of the crash, to the extent that the people of Cyprus should know about it,” Hasikos noted.
The Defence Minister said the findings would contain technical information not understood by laypersons, but added that the “essence of the findings will no doubt be made public.”
Possible causes for the crash include mechanical failure or a fire breaking out on board while the chopper was in flight. The crash was described as the worst military disaster for Cyprus since 1974.
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.
