It took more than three days and over 7,000 troops, policeman, villagers and mountaineers to find the Ukrainian jet. The mammoth air, sea and land search ended, not only when a Greek military helicopter spotted the reckage on a slope near Mount Olympus, but after an airforce Hercules also crashed as it participated in the rescue operation.

The Greek defence ministry announced that all five crew members were killed, when the C-130 transport plane ploughed into a mountain. Eyewitnesses said the ill-fated Ukrainian jet was scattered in pieces around the slope.

Within hours rescue teams, including ambulances and medical specialists, had managed to push their way through heavy snow to the crash site, but officials said none of the 70 passengers on board had survived. Their bodies will be flown by helicopter to a hospital in Salonica, where scores of Greeks relatives have gathered.

The chartered Yak-42 went down as it prepared to land in the northern Greek city of Salonica on Wednesday evening. Civil aviation officials said they believe its pilot had lost his bearings, after being asked to make a circle above the airport because of heavy traffic.