Initial autopsies on bodies of those killed in the Cyprus airliner crash in Greece on Tuesday showed that about 20 people on the doomed plane -- including the co-pilot -- were alive before it crashed into a hill.

Nikos Kalogrias, one of a team of seven coroners, said the 20 victims' hearts and lungs were functioning when the plane crashed on Sunday, but he could not confirm whether the passengers were conscious or not at the crash.

Authorities had suggested that the crash, which killed 121 people including 21 children, could have been triggered by a fataltechnical fault, such as a loss of air pressure in the cabin or a lack of oxygen, and most of the passengers were probably dead before the crash.

Greek government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said on Sunday that no evidence had emerged of terrorism or foul play by two Greek F-16 jet fighters, which were dispatched to locate the aircraft after it entered the Greek Flight Information Region (FIR) without communications with the air controllers.

A local journalist, who asked not to be named, told Xinhua thatthe autopsies threw some new light on the cause of the plane crash.

"Any possibility can not be ruled out now," she said, hinting that the possibility of a terrorist act or a shot-down by the Greek fighters still existed.

"The most important thing is that this kind of tragedy, a greatloss of life, will not repeat itself," she added.

Officials here said that firefighters found an unusual clue to the plane's last minutes: the individual that a fighter pilot spotted in the cockpit of the aircraft desperately trying to regain control of the aircraft shortly before the crash was apparently a flight attendant.

Meanwhile, investigations at the crash site continued on Tuesday to search for the three remaining bodies including the German pilot and the inner part of the key black box, which recorded the conversations between the pilot and the co-pilot.

An air safety official said the cockpit voice recorder's case was found, but the components were missing, noting that they were apparently ejected on impact.

The other black box, the flight data recorder, was not damaged and will be decoded in France.

Meanwhile, Greece observed a day of mourning for the 121 victims, with flags in public buildings flying at half-mast and three moments of silence observed at noon throughout the private and public sector.

A C-130 plane took off from Elefsina military airport at 8:05 p. m. carrying to Larnaca, Cyprus, the bodies of 23 victims which had been identified by their relatives.

Source: Xinhua