Twenty-one years have passed since the Helios Airways crash that claimed 121 lives and became one of the darkest tragedies in Cyprus’ modern history.
On 14 August 2005, Helios Airways flight HCY 522 departed Larnaca for Prague, with a scheduled stop in Athens. The Boeing 737 never landed.
It crashed in the mountainous area of Grammatiko in Attica, killing all 115 passengers and six crew members on board. Among the victims were 22 children. Of those who died, 103 were of Cypriot origin and 12 were from Greece.
Entire families were lost, children were left without parents and, more than two decades later, relatives say the pain and questions surrounding the disaster have never completely disappeared.
‘They were like our second parents’
Christiana Tsiopani lost five members of her family: her mother’s brother, Kyriakos “Kolokasis” Kyprianou, 48, his wife Anastasia, 43, and their three children, Stella, 14, Christia, 12, and six-year-old Christodoulos.
The family from Dali was travelling to Porto Heli via Athens for a holiday and lived next door to Tsiopani’s family.
“We grew up together. They were like our second parents and the children were like our siblings,” she told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).
Rafaella Savva, who was around 12 at the time, lost her grandparents, Kleopas Nikolaou, 66, and Yiannoula Neophytou, 55, from Kokkinotrimithia. They were travelling to Prague for their summer holidays.
“In a single moment, we lost two people who were part of our lives,” she said.
Families watched and waited for answers
Tsiopani vividly remembers seeing television reports about an “uncontrolled aircraft” belonging to Helios.
“We immediately became worried and started calling their mobile phones. They were ringing, but nobody answered,” she said.
Savva remembers the same agonising wait.
“At first, there was mainly the anxiety and waiting to find out whether it really was the flight my grandfather and grandmother were on,” she said.
Her family gathered at home and followed the news, waiting for the names of the passengers to be released.
What happened aboard flight HCY 522
At 10.15am, the aircraft entered Athens airspace without establishing communication with air traffic control.
At 11.05am, two F-16 fighter jets took off from Nea Anchialos. They made visual contact with the Boeing at 11.18am and found the co-pilot unconscious, the captain absent from his seat and oxygen masks deployed inside the cabin.
The aircraft continued flying on autopilot.
Flight attendant Andreas Prodromou remained conscious for longer and later attempted to take control of the aircraft.
After the fuel was exhausted and the engines stopped operating, the aircraft crashed near Grammatiko shortly after midday, killing everyone on board.
‘A wound that never closes’
When news of the crash emerged, Tsiopani and her brother rushed to the airport seeking information about their relatives.
“The other relatives arrived there too, asking what had happened to their loved ones. The situation was tragic, with many parents demanding information and crying out for their children,” she said.
For Savva’s family, confirmation came after the same agonising wait.
“When it was finally confirmed that they were on the flight, it was an enormous shock for our whole family and our relatives,” she said.
Many families then faced the difficult process of identifying the victims.
Tsiopani’s mother, brother and another uncle travelled to Greece, where identification had to be carried out through DNA testing. The identification of her uncle took longer, leaving the family waiting before his funeral could take place.
“Life changed for us. It left us with a wound that never closes,” Tsiopani said.
She remembers the first days after the disaster and the funerals particularly vividly.
“The pain was so heavy it could break stones,” she said.
Investigation found chain of failures
The Greek Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board published its findings in October 2006.
Among its findings was that the aircraft’s pressurisation system selector had remained in the manual position and that the crew failed to recognise the relevant warnings in time.
Akrivos Tsolakis, who led the investigation as chairman of the board, told CNA in 2022 that the chain of events resulted in hypoxia and incapacitation of the crew, followed ultimately by fuel exhaustion.
For Tsiopani, the disaster was “not a random event” but the result of “a series of omissions”.
She believes responsibility extended beyond errors made by the flight crew and has criticised both shortcomings within the airline and the way the case was subsequently handled in Cyprus.
Families question whether justice was served
Tsiopani expressed dissatisfaction with the way the prosecution presented the case in Cyprus, arguing that the charges did not adequately cover all the issues identified during investigations.
She also said information about shortcomings within Helios and problems with aviation oversight had not been properly addressed.
In Cyprus, five company executives were sent for trial. The proceedings ultimately ended with the defendants being cleared after the Attorney-General suspended the prosecution.
In Greece, four Helios officials were convicted.
The Athens Court of Appeal upheld their convictions in February 2013. Each had been sentenced to 122 years in prison, which was reduced to a maximum term of 10 years and subsequently converted into a financial penalty. They were released after each paid approximately €73,000.
Savva believes answers have emerged about what happened, but not the justice the families had expected.
“After 21 years, I still believe that some things could have been done differently,” she said.
She believes families should have received greater support and more comprehensive information, as well as genuine accountability.
“Time helps, but it does not erase a loss like this,” she said.
Cyprus remembers the 121 victims
An annual memorial service for the victims was held on Sunday, 9 August, at the Metropolitan Church of Agios Georgios in Paralimni, the hometown of many of those who died.
Transport, Communications, and Works Minister Evanthia Tsolaki said the state’s presence at the memorial was not merely ceremonial but a duty towards the victims’ families.
Their pain, she said, was neither private nor forgotten, but part of Cyprus’ collective memory.
Tsolaki laid a wreath on behalf of President Nikos Christodoulides. A memorial prayer and wreath-laying ceremony were subsequently held at Paralimni Municipal Cemetery.
‘Their absence is always there’
For the families, 21 years have not diminished the memories of those they lost.
“Our loved ones continue to exist through our memories,” Savva said, adding that the enduring lesson should be that “the protection of human life and safety must always be a priority”.
For Tsiopani, memories return during important family moments.
“This wound has remained engraved on our lives. Time does not erase wounds. Their absence is always there, even in every smile and every moment of happiness,” she said.
She still remembers her three young cousins on the final day before the disaster: “their voices, their laughter, the last hugs”.
“No matter how many years pass, in our minds they went on a long journey, and we hope God grants us the chance to meet again,” she said.
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