Cyprus Minister Defends Flight Inspection Record

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) _ Cyprus' transport minister on Friday defended the country's flight-inspection record following claims that authorities were negligent before the Aug. 14 Helios Airways crash in Greece.

''All the inspections required by international rules were carried out,'' minister Haris Thrasou said.

All 121 people on Helios Flight 522 were killed when the Boeing 737-300 flying from Larnaca to Athens slammed into a mountainside near the Greek capital. Investigators said it crashed after losing cabin pressure and running out of fuel.

On Thursday, a senior official at Cyprus' Civil Aviation Authority charged that authorities on the island had failed to properly inspect commercial airplanes before the crash.

The allegations added to pressure on Thrasou, and spurred renewed calls for an independent investigation into the cause of the crash and how Cypriot authorities reacted.

In Athens, authorities announced that all but one of the 118 bodies recovered have been identified. The unidentified body is believed to be that of the airliner's German pilot, Hans Jurgen Merten _ but confirmation through DNA comparison has not been completed.

Three bodies from the crash remain missing.

The leader of Greece's Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos, held a memorial service at the crash site Friday.