WHILE most attention on the recent air crash in Kolossi has focussed on the pilots, little concern has been shown for the people affected on the ground, all of whom are seriously traumatized by the incident.
Music Producer Chris Louvieris was minding his own business at Curium beach last Saturday. Overstaying his visit by 15 minutes he planned to go back home to write a song in his studio. A phone call from a neighbour and his housemaid Mary alerted him to what had happened and he rushed back home. By the time he got there he had been told a plane had hit his house and crashed in the property behind his garden. The fire brigade arrived some 20 minutes after the crash and immediately set to work to put out the flames. Both pilots were dead and by some miracle no one on the ground was hurt.
Anna Louvieris, Chris’ 94-year-old mother, and Mary were totally ignored by ambulances, police, and army personnel. Both were covered in aviation fuel and needed immediate medical attention. Despite pleas from neighbours, their request for first aid assistance was ignored.
Mary, a Filipina who has been working in Cyprus for nearly four years carried Anna to a neighbour’s house on her back, escaping the fire and saving the old lady’s life. Mary is still badly shaken by the experience. “I cannot sleep,” she told the Cyprus Mail. “It’s all a nightmare. I take pills to help me sleep but cannot. Worst of all I cannot go into the garden. I am too frightened; it brings back too many horrible memories.”
Even at the time of writing, nobody in a position of authority had questioned Mary or examined her or Anna.
The whole incident could have been much worse, as Chris Louvieris states: “All credit must go to Mary, who deserves a medal for her bravery. Without her I don’t think my mother would be alive today. Also my wife Zoe had the day off but was called into work just one hour before the crash. Then there were the 10 people in neighbouring gardens; that morning a huge palm tree, located in the middle of the two houses in front of ours had coincidentally been cut down. If the plane had hit that, who knows what could have happened.
“Finally, there was a carpenter working on the house behind us, which is owned by an English person and was nearing completion. The carpenter was working behind the wall where one of the plane’s wings struck. A few minutes before the collision he went to get some tools, and was saved by fate.”
Beyond the crash, Louvieris and his family are trying to piece their lives together. His recording studio on the top floor was struck by the plane and is in pieces. His mother hallucinates at night, calling for his brother who has been dead for 10 years. Mary is seriously distressed and stays most of the time in the house.
Then there is the issue of compensation. Everywhere in the Louvieris residence there are huge cracks. The whole property is disjointed. No windows or doors can close. Aviation fuel, despite the water and foam sprayed to put out the raging fire, is still in the atmosphere. “I give some credit to the army people,” Chris says with a remarkable sense of humility, “they came around, assessed the damage superficially, literally in a few minutes, then made us an offer of compensation of £40,000 – and asked us to sign something. I refused and told them I would be seeking legal advice on the matter.”
Chris was also unaware that his bank insurance policy did not cover such an accident, but “then again you never really expect anything like this to happen”.
One witness, Mick Poulton had a birds’ eye view of the situation before the crash. “We were in Club Aphrodite,” said Poulton. “Our apartment is one of the highest. I was on the balcony and saw this small aircraft fly round and round the area, covering the whole of Erimi and Kolossi at least three times. Then it dived down and never came up.”
Neighbours also confirm this account, adding that the plane was actually upside down when it struck the local church first, then the Louvieris residence and the newly completed house behind it.
There is a strange atmosphere in Kolossi these days. The historic castle is located just a stone’s throw from Chris Louvieris’ house. There were more sightseers at the scene of the crash than at the castle itself. There is no police tape anywhere near the scene. Any one can walk into the charred and unsafe empty property.
There is also a rumour going round of plans to put up a memorial for the pilots. The real heroes, however, carry on with their own lives, traumatised and uncared for by the authorities.
Chris Louvieris holds up spine-chilling picture. “See this,” he says, pointing to a piece of metal on the image: “it’s the hub of the propeller, located next to the chair behind my mixing desk. If I had been 15 minutes early, behind the desk and writing that song I would not be alive today.”
