THREE YOUNG Cypriot brothers were among those expected to dock at Larnaca port during the early hours of this morning after their evacuation from Beirut yesterday evening.
The boys, among those left behind in Beirut on Monday when their escape ship unexpectedly set sail due to pressure from the Lebanese authorities, travelled home along with 17 other children onboard the Greek frigate Psara. They were accompanied by their aunt.
Eleven-year-old George, eight-year-old Lenos and 20-month-old Danny, had been visiting their grandparents and family in Beirut when the bombings began. Members of a mixed family, the three young boys visit their father’s side of their family every summer.
The three sons of Cypriot mother Despina Kyriacou and Lebanese father Maghik Maicha, did not return on Monday night as planned. They were among the 300 people – among them 11 Cypriots – who didn’t return on French-chartered cruise ship Ieropetra.
Upon realising her children hadn’t boarded the ship on Monday evening, Kyriacou expressed her disappointment while hinting at the incompetence of Cyprus’ Embassy in Beirut, who she said didn’t do enough to make sure her children were returned safely that evening.
On the night, Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Ministry, Sotos Zacheos, had told Greek language daily Simerini that the children hadn’t boarded the boat because they weren’t on the priority list. He later added that the ship had sailed early because the deadline imposed by the Lebanese authorities had run out.
The Foreign Ministry assured the children’s mother early yesterday morning that George, Lenos and Danny were expected to return yesterday afternoon on a Greek frigate that would be anchoring at Larnaca port.
“Mr Zakheos has called me and assured me that in the afternoon the children will be at Larnaca port on a frigate, I don’t know the name of the frigate,” said the children’s mother yesterday afternoon. “He has assured me that they will soon be in Cyprus along with the other Cypriots [who missed Monday night’s Ieropetra sailing].”
However, she had also been warned about the possibility of her children not returning by yesterday afternoon. But she was reassured that if that was the case, then they would definitely be returning by early in the morning today.
CyBC yesterday contacted the children’s father, Lebanese Maghik Maicha, who told them that a few moments before noon yesterday, he had contacted his sons and the family members who were escorting them, and they had told him that they were on their way to Beirut port to board the frigate.
Earlier in the afternoon, George Yiangou, a Serving Diplomat at the Foreign Ministry, said that “the Cyprus embassy in Beirut has provided buses and gathered the people who have said they wish to return to Cyprus.
“The three children are included in these people and so are the rest of the 8 people who didn’t manage to travel yesterday on the French ship Ieropetra.”
At the moment their dad had spoken to their grandparents, the three boys were heading towards Beirut port.
“As soon as Greek nautical ship Psara docks, they will board and we are hoping, we are certain, that we will have them here in Cyprus late in the afternoon, at around 8pm,” said Yiangou.
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