U.S. aviation experts investigating the August 14 crash of a Cypriot airliner close to Athens are focusing their search on the compression system of the Boeing 737 aircraft, dpa reported Monday. Helios Flight 522 had been flying from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens with 115 passengers and six crew when it crashed into a mountainous region near the village of Grammatiko, about 40 kilometres north of Athens. Three bodies have not been found. Investigators are examining reports that the plane's pilots were incapacitated by a loss of cabin pressure, but have not determined precisely what went wrong. Reports in the Greek daily Ta Nea said that a faulty valve in the compression system may have been to blame. A former chief mechanic at Helios also claimed the plane lost cabin pressure during a December flight after a door apparently was not sealed properly. Cyprus' Transport Minister Haris Thrasou told Cyprus-state television RIK on Monday that the government would be conducting a thorough investigation into airline's books as well as logbooks of the civil aviation agency, namely checks conducted on aircraft. "The truth must be found," he said. --more 1426 Local Time 1126 GMT
