ATHENS, Aug. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Greek government said on Sunday that no evidence of terrorism or foul play had emerged after a Cypriot airliner crashed near Athens, apparently killing all the 115 passengers and 6 crew aboard including 48 children.

    Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos flatly rejected media speculation that two air force fighter jets, which were sent to track the aircraft after its crew failed to communicate with Greece's air traffic control on its entry, had been ordered to shoot down the plane on fears of terrorism.

    "There was no such thought," he told reporters after a lengthy cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, who cut short his long weekend holiday and returned to Athens.

    Meanwhile, Cypriot officials said that there is no evidence of terrorism so far.

    "The first indications, in Cyprus and in Greece, are that it was not caused by a terrorist act," said Marios Karoyian, a spokesman for Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos in Nicosia.

    The Greek Defense Ministry and fire department said that the plane crashed to a mountain at about 12:20 p.m. (0920 GMT) near the coastal town of Grammatikos, about 25 kilometers north of Athens, just a few minutes before its scheduled landing time on a flight from Larnaca International Airport of Cyprus to Prague via Athens.

    Police, firefighters and rescue workers at the crash site reportedly said there was no hope of any survivor. The plane, divided into three parts, triggered a bush fire after crash.

    Roussopoulos said the black box of the plane had been found and investigation of the cause had been underway.

    Reports said that crew notified Cypriot authorities of a fault in the aircraft's air conditioning unit on approaching Greek airspace, but made no contact with Greek air traffic controllers on entry.

    The Greek civil aviation authorities alerted the air force in line with anti-terrorism measures. Two F-16 fighter jets sent froma military base in Crete located the aircraft a few minutes later in the southern Aegean, but calls for identification went unheededand the plane appeared to be out of control, reports said.

    Flying at close quarters, air force officers reported that the aircraft's co-pilot appeared to have collapsed over his controls but no captain was visible through the cockpit window. Overhead oxygen masks in the cabin section had dropped into place.

    After reporting the aircraft as "renegade", or unidentified, the pilots tracked the airliner at about 38,000 feet until it began to lose height and crashed sparking a blaze.

    "The most likely thing is that a technical fault was involved, but we are looking into all possible causes and details. It would not be responsible to say anything yet about the cause of the descent," said the spokesman.

    He noted that the jet pilots also saw two people apparently trying to take control of the plane shortly before the plane crashed, but it was unclear if they were members of the crew or passengers. Enditem