Ticket seller’s death ‘was an accident’

THE lottery ticket seller whose body was retrieved from Limassol harbour on Friday morning died from asphyxia due to drowning, state pathologist Eleni Antoniou said yesterday.

Eighty-six-year-old Andreas Parpas’ death was accidental, she said. There was no evidence that a crime had been committed or that he had committed suicide.

“We were told that he used to buy fish there every Monday and sell lottery tickets. That particular day was a wet one and it appears his car slipped forward down the slight slope and plunged into the water with him in it, with his window slightly open,” she said.

Parpas had been reported missing by his family on December 9 last year. They feared he had been murdered for the £3,000 he had been carrying at the time. But police, who retrieved the car after Greek Navy frogmen found it lying on the harbour’s seabed on Thursday night, found the money in his car.

Although he had not been wearing a seatbelt, he was too old to save himself, said Antoniou.

“Opening the car door, in order to break free, would have been impossible even for a young man to achieve because of the pressure exerted on the door in that depth of water,” she added.