Cypriot jet may have had earlier problems

The pilots of two Greek air force F-16 fighter planes scrambled to intercept the plane after it lost contact with air traffic control shortly after entering Greek airspace said they saw the co-pilot slumped over the controls. The pilot did not appear to be in the cockpit, and oxygen masks were seen dangling in the cabin.

The fighter jet pilots also saw two people possibly trying to take control of the plane; it was unclear if they were crew members or passengers.

The plane might have run out of fuel after flying for nearly three hours on autopilot, air force officials said, asking not to be named in line with Greek practice.

After the crash, authorities said it appeared to have been caused by a technical failure — resulting in high-altitude decompression. A Cypriot transport official had said Sunday the passengers and crew may have been dead before the plane crashed.

Search for pilot's body
Searchers were still looking for three bodies, including the plane’s German pilot, fire officials said. Cypriot authorities identified him as Marten Hans Jurgen, 50, from Berlin.

A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with German practice, identified one of the pilots as a 58-year-old German but would not give his full name. It was unclear why there was a discrepancy in his age. Greek and Cypriot authorities often list surnames before given names, and Hans-Juergen would likely be the pilot’s first name.

Yannis Behrakis / Reuters Firefighters work Sunday to extinguish flames at the crash site of Helios Airways flight HCY 522 at the Greek village of Grammatiko.

In Berlin, police were guarding the house at the address where the Cypriot government said the pilot lived — a gray stucco house surrounded by a tidy, tree-filled garden in a quiet Berlin neighborhood near the Schoenefeld airport.

The name on the mailbox said Merten. Neighbors confirmed his first name was Hans-Juergen and said he was a pilot in his 50s, but refused to provide any other details.

The airliner’s pilots had reported air conditioning system problems about a half-hour after takeoff, and Greek state TV quoted Cyprus’ transport minister as saying the plane had decompression problems in the past.

But a Helios representative said the plane had “no problems and was serviced just last week.”

A man who claimed to have received a telephone text message from a passenger on the plane faced a preliminary hearing Tuesday for disseminating false information and causing a public disturbance.

Police on Monday arrested Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32, who had called Greek television stations shortly after the crash. He claimed a cousin on board had sent him a cell-phone text message saying: “Farewell, cousin, here we’re frozen.”

The report that the plane was cold was taken as a sign of decompression — one of the possible explanations authorities have given for the crash. But police said they determined the suspect’s story was false.

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