A YOUNG diver was killed in the Paphos district on Sunday afternoon when he received a blow to the head from the propeller of a powerboat, police said.
A 55-year-old Briton has been remanded in three-day custody in connection with the case. He is facing the charge of causing death due to a thoughtless, dangerous and reckless deed.
Twenty-one-year-old Neophytos Demosthenous and his brother Marios, 20, were harpoon fishing in the Fontana Amorosa area in the Akamas at around 2.50pm.
While the youths were in the water, a high power boat sped past and hit the older sibling, police said.
The brothers, from the local village of Chlorakas, had taken all necessary precautions to ensure their presence in the water was made visible to passing boats, including putting up special red buoys, police added.
The 21-year-old student was spotted by his younger brother who called for help from a nearby boat. Demosthenous’ body was retrieved from a depth of 12 metres and rushed back to shore, where he was immediately transported to Polis Chrysochous general hospital. He was pronounced dead on arrival, police said.
The boat believed to have been responsible for running the young diver over was later identified by the victim’s brother, which then led to the 55-year-old’s arrest.
The suspect, Christopher Sherofflasky, has denied any involvement in the accident and is believed to have queried his arrest on Sunday night.
But Paphos’ district court yesterday heard that the suspect had been travelling at high speed in his speedboat when his propeller hit Demosthenous. He continued on without stopping, reports said.
Sherofflasky has lived in Peristerona with his wife and three children for the past eight years.
Polis Chrysochous police station is investigating.
Meanwhile Marine Police Operations and Training officer Theocharis Christodoulou said yesterday that powerboat drivers were required to have a handlers’ license issued by the Department of Merchant Shipping. Only tourists visiting the island for under 30 days were not by law required to have one, he said.
In tourists’ case the onus of responsibility lay with watersport rental owners who were supposed to give prospective boat drivers a preliminary test to ensure they were capable of handling a boat. It was also the responsibility of the business owner to give tourists a brief outlined of an area’s topography.
Christodoulou said although it was important for boat handlers to be knowledgeable of signs pertaining to divers in the area, as well as of the existence of special corridors for boats in areas marked for swimmers, it was equally important for divers to know what safety precautions to take to ensure they went on a safe dive.
Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides said he would suggest to the Communications Ministry, which was responsible for issues involving the handling of powerboats, to enforce stricter procedures regarding who was allowed to use speedboats so as to avoid similar tragedies in future.
He also said the law should be made stricter to ensure that anyone operating a powerboat had to have Cypriot licence or a special handling licence which was recognised by Cyprus from their own country.
