THE findings of the investigation into the army training accident near Larnaca have not yet been handed over to the president, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday.
A 19-year-old sergeant was critically injured when a disposable anti-tank weapon was fired during a training session last Thursday.
Two officers, a major and a lieutenant, were also seriously hurt in the incident, while 15 other conscripts sustained lighter injuries.
The sergeant, who was completing his service this week, was airlifted to Israel where he is being treated in a hospital specialising in combat trauma.
His condition is stable.
The army immediately launched an inquiry into the incident, while a simultaneous investigation was conducted by the police.
Reports yesterday said the reports were ready, though the Government Spokesman said they had not yet been submitted to President Tassos Papadopoulos.
“I do not know when it will be submitted;
“Nevertheless, it was not submitted to the Cabinet meeting today,” Chrysostomides said.
However, new information regarding the circumstances of the incident came to the fore yesterday.
Reports yesterday suggested that it was the major who pulled the trigger thinking the weapon was just a simulator.
According to yesterday’s Politis, it all started four years ago, when the French-made Apilas, was unpacked, along with other launchers, from its sealed packaging to be used in a live-ammo exercise.
The special battery, which is packaged separately, and is needed to activate the weapon, was installed but for some reason the Apilas was never fired.
However, someone recorded that the launcher had been used and it was returned to the unit to be used for training.
And no one got suspicious since it is standard procedure to employ used equipment in training.
No one checked it in four years and no one even noticed the weight difference – the loaded Apilas weighs around nine kilos – until it was brought out on the specific day.
Just before the incident, the sergeant and the lieutenant showed troops how to remove the weapon’s safeties.
The troops were injured from the gas released from the rear of the weapon.
The missile landed in an empty area.
The incident forced Defence Minister Koullis Mavronikolas and National Guard Commander Athanasios Nikolodimos to submit their resignations.
Reports suggested that the president was waiting for the findings of the investigations before deciding whether he would accept them.
