Memorial service held for Helios air disaster

A memorial service was held on Sunday morning to commemorate the Helios air disaster at the Ayios Georgios church in Paralimni, ahead of the 19th anniversary of the tragedy on Wednesday.

The Helios air disaster occurred on August 14, 2005, when the cabin of Helios Airways Flight 522 from Larnaca to Prague via Athens began to depressurise, causing those aboard, including captain and crew, to suffer from generalised hypoxia. This rendered the flight a “ghost flight”.

With autopilot still engaged, the aircraft circled over Athens for multiple hours until the engines gave out due to fuel exhaustion and the aeroplane crashed near the village of Grammatiko.

The service was presided over by Kiti bishop Nektarios, with Deputy Tourism Minister Costas Koumis and Disy MEP Michalis Hadjipantela also in attendance.

Speaking at the service, Hadjipantela said, “19 whole years have gone by, since the agony and the pain, since the fall of the Helios airline’s Boeing onto the hillside at Grammatiko. 19 whole years since the infinite tragedy, the tears, the bitterness, and the endless tragedy.”

“19 whole years since that black day, August 14, 2005, when the sun went out forever for the 121 souls of that tragedy. The outrage on that day froze Hellenism and the entire world,” he said.

“The wounds do not heal easily, and the houses of the victims remain empty. No matter how many years pass, the pain does not go away … The cross remains heavy, unlifted, for their parents, their siblings, their children, their relatives, and their friends.”

He added, “commemoration is resistance to defeat the ugliness of death.”