A huge explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base near Mari has killed at least twelve, wounded more than 59 and knocked out the island’s largest power station at Vassiliko, according to the latest reports.
National Guard Lieutenant General Petros Tsalikidis said the blasts occurred in a dump housing munitions.
Tsalikidis said: ‘There was an explosion in containerized ammunition which were seized from a ship three years ago, and we are trying to manage the crisis.’
Cyprus Electricity Authority spokesman Costas Gavrielides described the incident as a “biblical disaster,” while a Cyprus Mail reporter on the scene said car windows on the highway were smashed by the blast and the entire naval base area and Vassiliko power station area was shrouded in grey-black smoke.
“It looks like a bombed-out landscape,” another witness told Sigma television.
Cyprus News Agency quoted military sources as saying there were also scores of injured at the Evangelos Florakis base, between the coastal cities of Limassol and Larnaca.
“There are a number of dead which we cannot confirm yet,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said.
The blast caused extensive damage to the neighbouring community, and shattered windows and doors of a restaurant in a popular tourist resort three kilometres away.
Around 300 campers at the nearby Governors beach campsite were woken by the blast and according to one eye witness and Cyprus Mail columnist Hermes Solomon: “It sounded like a sonic boom… People were running around the campsite terrified, and some were trembling for a long time.”
Around 100 of the campers were permanent residents living in mobile homes.
The water development department (WDD) has ceased desalination plant operations to conserve electricity, and is advising all citizens to minimise water consumption.
In the meantime Hermes Airports – who are among the largest electricity consumers on the island, have switched on both of their emergency generators and reduced terminal air conditioning to conserve electricity.
According to state broadcaster CYBC, 43 Injured blast victims were taken to Limassol General Hospital. Thirty six have been treated and discharged, five remain in the hospital but are not in serious condition, and two are in critical condition.
The military base stored munitions from the Monchegorsk, which Cyprus intercepted sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 after pressure from the U.S., confiscating its cargo for being in violation of U.N. sanctions on Iran.
The road between Mari and Governor’s beach is closed as of 8.20am.
More follows later
