Cypriot airliner carrying 121 crashes near Athens

A Cypriot airliner carrying 121 people has crashed north of Athens A Greek police spokesman said there were no immediate reports of survivors on the plane, which was carrying 115 passengers and six crew.

Two Greek F-16 fighter jets were scrambled after the Helios Airways jet, en route from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague via Athens, lost contact with the control tower at Athens international airport.

Several witnesses said they saw the plane flying low over Athens' eastern coastline before disappearing out of sight and seconds later they heard a crash.

Ambulances and firefighters went to the crash site, uninhabited mountainous bushland in the Grammatiko area about 25 miles north of Athens. Wreckage was spread over a wide area and fire had broken out, News Telegraph reported.