THE NAVY heads in charge of storing the explosive Monchegorsk cargo had warned their superiors that the 98 containers were buckling under the sun and needed protection, it transpired yesterday.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou yesterday acknowledged that a meeting was held at the Defence Ministry last week, where certain decisions were taken regarding protection of the material which “unfortunately were not implemented due to lack of time”.
However, Nicolas Ioannides, son of the National Guard’s navy chief Andreas Ioannides, who was killed during yesterday’s explosion, insisted that the government had ignored constant pleas from top military brass, including his father, on the dangers of keeping the cargo at Mari navy base.
“My father and other officers repeatedly made urgent pleas for the destruction or removal of the explosives but to no avail,” he told state broadcaster CyBC yesterday.
Asked whether his father had asked for the cargo to be removed or destroyed, Ioannides said: “Many times…He and other navy officers asked for their urgent destruction or removal.”
He added: “Particularly last week, he was very concerned. There was a small explosion last Monday, which created a hole in the containers. (On Sunday night) there was information that the containers had buckled, making the situation very dangerous.
The son accused the authorities of “criminal negligence” for leaving explosives “for two and half years under the sun, wind, cold, all these weather conditions without doing anything”. Ioannides said it was unacceptable that the pleas of professionals, experts, officers, navy chiefs were ignored.
Reports yesterday surfaced that navy chief Ioannides sent letters requesting the construction of a shelter to cover the explosive materials which was rejected due to the economic crisis.
According to DISY’s Limassol MP Efthymios Diplaros, the defence ministry’s alleged response was that the navy could spray water on the containers throughout the day instead.
Politis yesterday published a picture online showing one of the containers, clearly buckling on its side under the pressure of the sun.
Professor of Physics Education at the University of Cyprus, Constantinos Constantinou, yesterday questioned the government’s motives to leave such explosive material exposed to the elements for so long.
Given the long range of the explosion’s impact, which reached Moni, Constantinou said the containers probably contained primary and secondary explosives. The latter require detonation and are much more powerful than the former.
“If explosive material was enclosed in air tight metallic compartments, it could get really dangerous when you reach temperatures in the mid-40s degrees Celsius,” he said.
The fact that the material in the containers was sealed in metallic containers meant that whatever type of explosives were in there, gas created by material burning would get trapped inside.
“Explosives burn very fast, creating a lot of heat. If the container doesn’t leak gas, it builds up pressure and explodes,” said the physicist.
“The damage would have been much less if they took the munitions out of the containers. If someone who knew about explosives even opened the containers, it would be more difficult for explosives to catch fire,” he argued. Constantinou questioned whether the authorities were aware of what they were storing.
“It’s very strange. First, everyone agrees there was some explosive cargo, but they decided to keep it all in one place instead of distributing it. That’s a bad idea.”
He noted that the National Guard is no stranger to handling explosive material and usually stores it underground in mountain bunkers.
“Second, they decided to put it next to the most expensive infrastructure on the island,” he said.
The academic queried who was responsible for the decisions taken?
He argued that the decision on proper storage should have been taken two years ago, supported with the stipulation of very detailed procedures on storage.
“Who made the decision on how the cargo was transferred from Customs to the National Guard? Who had the authority to decide where to store it and under what conditions is a question that is hanging on my mind. Perhaps the NG felt they were holding it for Customs, and vice-versa.
“It’s clear something very funny happened here. These are open questions for me,” said Constantinou.
If it was a political decision, he noted that politicians didn’t have the expertise to make such decisions.
“It’s not a political issue. Safety is the primary concern of any decision, then politics.”
