Coroner says all aboard jet died on impact in Greece
Athens, Greece – Autopsies on 118 bodies recovered from the Aug. 14 plane crash near Athens show all passengers and crew died on impact, a chief state coroner said Sunday.
Helios Flight 522 had been flying from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Athens with 115 passengers and six crew members when it crashed into a mountainous region near the village of Grammatiko, about 25 miles north of Athens, in Greece’s worst air disaster. Three bodies have not been found.
Investigators are examining reports that the plane’s pilots were incapacitated by a loss of cabin pressure, but they have not determined precisely what went wrong.
A former chief mechanic at Helios said the plane lost cabin pressure during a December flight after a door apparently was not sealed properly.
On Saturday, state-run NET television reported that tests on traces of blood found in the wreckage have indicated that a flight attendant who reportedly received flight training was in the cockpit when the Boeing 737-300 slammed into a mountain north of Athens. The 25-year-old attendant’s father said he believed his son died trying to save the flight.
FORT PAYNE, Ala.
Gas thief runs over, kills station owner
A gas-station owner was run over and killed when he tried to stop a driver from leaving without paying for $52 of gasoline, police said.
The driver had not been apprehended Sunday, and Fort Payne, Ala., Police Chief David Walker said the case was being investigated as a robbery-homicide.
Witnesses told police that Husain Caddi, owner of Fort Payne Texaco, “grabbed onto the vehicle” Friday when the driver began to drive off.
Caddi was dragged across the parking lot and onto a highway, where he fell to the pavement and was run over by a rear wheel on the late-model sport utility vehicle, Walker said.
CHICAGO
Thunderbirds cancel after wings touch
The Air Force Thunderbirds canceled an aerial performance Sunday, a day after two of the group’s F-16s touched each other in midair, sending part of one of the planes plummeting into Lake Michigan.
The aerial acrobatic team cut short its performance Saturday when two of the jets made contact while flying in a diamond formation.
A 4-foot-long missile rail came loose from one of the wings and fell into the water 2,500 feet from spectators.
On Sunday, the team said it would not perform again until an investigation could be completed.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
Shuttle Discovery back at home port
Discovery arrived at its home port Sunday atop a jumbo jet following a 5.8-million-mile journey through space – the first by a shuttle in 2 1/2 years – and then a jog across the country.
The shuttle, bolted to the top of a modified Boeing 747, flew from its last pit stop in Louisiana to the Kennedy Space Center and, at midmorning, touched down on the Florida runway.
Bad weather in Florida prevented Discovery from returning after two weeks in space. Instead, the first shuttle mission since the Columbia tragedy ended 2,200 miles away in Southern California, costing NASA an extra $1 million for the cross- country trek.
TRENTON, Fla.
Snorkeler found dead in underwater cave
A college student who apparently was snorkeling by himself at a north Florida spring was found dead in an underwater cave.
Matthew Ross Lund, 20, was apparently diving into the spring, and his parents said he may have hit his head on the entrance to the cave.
His body was found Saturday by other divers in an offshoot of Ginnie Springs.
HARARE, Zimbabwe
Lions kill Japanese visitor to wildlife park
A pride of lions attacked and killed a Japanese woman visiting a Zimbabwe wildlife park.
The attack occurred at the Lion and Cheetah Park at Norton, 25 miles west of the capital.
The 50-year-old woman was about to leave the park’s 49- acre lion enclosure on foot with five people from the Japanese Embassy and park employees when one of the animals attacked.
“Other lions … also went for the helpless woman and joined in the attack,” an official said.
The woman’s companions threw stones to drive away the lions.
It was not immediately clear what the group was doing on foot inside the enclosure. Previously, visitors have been under strict instructions not to leave their vehicles.
OSAKA, Japan
Nine hurt in plane’s emergency landing
A Qantas Airways plane made an emergency landing at Kansai Airport on Sunday after informing the airport of a suspected fire in its cargo bay, and nine passengers were injured as they were evacuated from the plane.
The Airbus A330-300 bound for Perth, Australia, from Narita Airport in Japan made the landing Sunday after informing air traffic controllers about the fire alert while it was over the Pacific Ocean.
Flight 70 was carrying 194 passengers and crew members. Nine people were injured as they disembarked the plane on emergency evacuation slides, including one who suffered a broken hip. No traces of fire were found.
