A Worcester woman living in Cyprus has spoken of her ordeal after she thought that her husband might have been on the plane which crashed near Athens on Sunday.

Melanie Hall had left Max, aged 30, at Larnaca airport at 12.45am so he could return to England to look for work before she returns to the Faithful City with their three-year-old daughter Izzy in September.

She was horrified when the 6pm news announced that a plane from Larnaca had crashed, killing all on board.

"As it was read out in Greek, my heart stopped," she said.

"I just felt sick that it might be his flight. The lady in the shop then said it was destined for Athens and I initially felt relief, but then the enormity of the tragedy sunk in.

"Television coverage has been constant since it happened and the scenes of grief are appalling."

Before the tragedy, the 30-year-old former Worcester News reporter, whose sister still lives in the city, told her husband not to travel with Helios Airways after she had undergone a traumatic flight to Cyprus with the Greek airline in April.

"The atmosphere inside a plane is usually really cool and refreshing but this flight was oppressive and stiflingly warm," she said.

When passengers asked cabin crew what was wrong with the air conditioning, they were told they were unable to turn it on because it would make the aircraft too cold.

All 121 passengers and crew on board Sunday's Helios flight were killed when the airliner crashed after it is believed to have suffered a catastrophic loss of cabin pressure or oxygen minutes before it was due to land.

Chairman of Helios Airways Andreas Drakou said the accident was a terrible tragedy and that the company would provide immediate financial assistance and support to the families of victims.

The company, which confirmed that its scheduled services would continue, said it was fully co-operating with a technical investigation into the accident.