“We disembarked by ourselves and no one stopped Jack from going to the back of the helicopter. “None of us made it to the living room before the accident happened,” said one of Jack’s friends.
His friends flatly deny it Jack Fentonwho were with him on the fateful helicopter journey, claims that the young Briton became detached from his mobile phone and went towards the side of the propeller, which eventually tore him apart.
According to the Daily Mail, the rest of the youngsters angrily reject the pilot’s version.
It is recalled that the 22-year-old was hit when he walked behind the Bell 407 helicopter while its engine was still running.
A little earlier, he had just returned with three friends from Mykonos and were due to return to London after their short trip to the island where they had celebrated the unfortunate Fenton’s 22nd birthday.
The Daily Mail report notes that Greek investigators said yesterday that the Oxford Brooks student, after landing safely, ran back onto the tarmac so he could take a selfie, despite warnings from the crew, and accidentally fell into the spinning propeller.
But Jack Stanton Gleaves, 20, who was in the helicopter with friends James Wimbsley, 19, and former Bournemouth University student Max Savage, 20, dismissed that version.
Jack Stanton Gleaves, whose father owns National League side Bromley FC, told MailOnline: ‘There were no instructions given when leaving the helicopter and no one escorted us into the lounge. All they did was open the doors for us.”
“We disembarked by ourselves and no one stopped Jack from going to the back of the helicopter. None of us reached the lounge before the accident happened,” he claimed.
“I’ve heard people say that Jack was on his phone and ran back to the helicopter and that’s completely untrue. He wasn’t on his phone and why he turned to the back of the helicopter I don’t know,” he stressed.
As the report points out, the head of training at Superior Air in Athens, and two ground technicians were arrested but later released by police after they testified that Jack was escorted into the airport before he ran back out.
The three could face charges of negligence or manslaughter if they told passengers to disembark when it was unsafe.
THE Jack’s mother, Victoriaspeaking from her home in Tonbridge, Kent, told MailOnline how the family are “absolutely devastated” by the loss of their “wonderful boy” who attended the £36,000-a-year Sutton Valence boarding school.
Ioannis Kandylis, chairman of the Greek air accident commission investigating the incident, said for his part that the 22-year-old defied orders and ran back to the helicopter with his phone to his ear.
It said: “All four passengers had disembarked and taken to a private lounge awaiting a private flight to London. But while he was in the living room, the victim escaped and returned to the tarmac rushing to the helicopter at a fast pace. Witnesses we spoke to said he had a phone to his ear and was walking quickly towards the aircraft, defying ground crew shouting at him ‘Stop! Stop!’. Within seconds the tragic accident happened. It was horrible.”
Authorities will review airfield surveillance camera footage for clues. They revealed that there were several other people who witnessed the tragedy from the lounge and they are expected to be contacted for additional testimonies.
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