15.09.2004, 19:31
Zitat:Greek Air Force Chief Sacked After Orthodox Leader Dies in Chopper CrashQuelle: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?forumid=248068&messageid=1095199166&lp=1095266547">http://www.network54.com/Forum/thread?f ... 1095266547</a><!-- m -->
By HELENE COLLIOPOULOU, AGENCE FRANCE_PRESSE, ATHENS
Greece’s air force chief of staff was sacked Sept. 12 over delays in launching a rescue operation after a weekend helicopter crash that killed the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, the church’s number two.
Peter VII, the spiritual leader of Greek Orthodox Christians in Africa, died Sept. 11 when the army aircraft carrying him and 16 others plummeted into the Aegean Sea off northern Greece.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said at a news conference he sacked air force chief Panayotis Papanikolaou because of delays in launching a search and rescue operation after the crash, whose cause has not yet been established and which no-one survived.
Military officials admitted that a communications breakdown led to a delay in launching the rescue operation.
Accompanied by his brother and members of his entourage, Peter VII, a Cypriot, had been traveling from Athens to the monastic enclave of Mount Athos, one of his church’s holiest places, when the Chinook helicopter went down.