Sleep blamed for fatal crash

A 52-YEAR-old Greek man living in Cyprus was killed in a car accident on Sunday night, bringing the death toll on the island’s roads to 56 for the year.

Anastasis Photopoulou died instantly at 11.40 pm on the Fasoula-Spitali road near Limassol, when 24-year-old painter Andreas Simeou, the driver of the vehicle, lost control and hit a parked car, causing their car to fall into a ravine by the side of the road.

Chief of Limassol Traffic Police, Philippos Papailia, said neither of the men were wearing their seatbelts; Photopoulou, who was a passenger in the car, was thrown from the windscreen and was crushed by the car.

He said the incident occurred when Simeou fell asleep at the wheel, while admitting that the road where the accident happened has a reputation for being dangerous.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.