Eight of the victims of the naval base tragedy were buried today.
The names of the deceased persons whose funerals took place today are Captain Andreas Ioannides, Commander of the Navy, Commander Lambros Lambrou, Commander of the Naval Base, Warrant Officer Kleanthis Kleanthous, Firemen Vassilis Krokos, Panayiotis Theofilou, Adamos Adamou, Spyros Ttantis and Chief fireman Georgos Yiakoumi.
PEOPLE IN the area surrounding the site of Monday’s devastating blast at Evangelos Florakis naval base in Limassol district were still in shock yesterday, only just beginning to make sense of what had happened to them.
Campers by Governor’s Beach described seeing a cloud of dust and heat coming towards them from the sea with the ground shaking while glass and furniture were flying in all directions.
“It was like stepping in an old oven fire when you just put in firewood,” Androulla Hajigeorgiou, 59, told the Cyprus Mail.
Androulla, wife of former fire Chief George Hadjigeorgiou, was in tears over the lost lives of the young firefighters.
THERE was a host of meetings yesterday as different departments looked at possible ways of dealing with the horrific consequences of Monday’s disaster at Vassiliko.
The primary objective of the authorities is to find stop-gap solutions for the immediate problems created, such as the 40-per cent reduction of the power output at the hottest time of the year and the peak of the tourist season, when demand for electricity is at the highest level.
Hidden behind Cyprus’ wall of opulence is a papier-mache infrastructure.
Accidents like the one at Evangelos Florakis naval base don’t just happen – they are caused.
Did we have to wait for 12 deaths and more than 60 injured to turn on this government – this three-year catastrophe of Christofias and his cohorts?
Subscribers to the Cyprus Mail website commentator columns have rarely been busier.
They are asking for heads to roll, and not just that of a 73-year-old Papacostas from the village of Yialousa, who should have been retired off well before he suffered a serious heart attack earlier this year.
Why he wasn’t is uppermost in our minds, especially those of the families who have lost loved ones.
THE GOVERNMENT was yesterday still grappling with how to deal with the energy crisis after the island’s main power station was knocked out by the blast at Mari naval base.
Offers of assistance from Greece and Israel will help temporarily alleviate the energy needs but only to a limited degree.
Greece’s electricity utility (DEI) said yesterday it will be sending over portable power generators with a total output between 90 to 120 megawatts – a fraction of the shortfall. The first 30 megawatts would be sent from a power station in Crete as soon as possible, the DEI announcement said.
The announcement followed consultations between the governments of Cyprus and Greece that began within hours of Monday’s events in Limassol.
INSURERS are set to pay out up to €600 million towards the reconstruction of the incapacitated Vassiliko power plant following the explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base on Monday.
Spokesman for Atlantic Insurance, Andreas Pirishis, told the Cyprus Mail: “We have every intention of covering the damages; our signature is on the policy.”
Cyprus based Atlantic Insurance hold a policy with the Electricity Authority of Cyprus (EAC) insuring the island’s power facilities for up to €1.86 billion – with a limited payout of €600 million per single incident. Originally costing €1 billion to construct, it is thought the cost of rebuilding could be double this figure.
SHOCKWAVES from Monday’s catastrophic blast continued to ripple through the economy yesterday, as Cyprus stock exchange (CSE) dropped a further 4.6 per cent.
The losses follow Monday’s dramatic 7.8 per cent drop in the immediate aftermath of the blast.
The CySE 20 index – which tallies the total share price of Cyprus’ top 20 firms – fell 4.45 per cent yesterday.
“This is an indication of bleak prospects for the future,” Cyprus Chamber of Commerce president Manthos Mavrommatis said of the 12.4 fall in the markets since the blast.
The banks were the hardest hit during the day’s trading, with their index falling 4.7 per cent.
Bank of Cyprus shares fell € 0.08 to €1.68 while Cyprus Airways’ share price also slumped, from €0.07 to €0.06.
IN ORDER TO cope with the regular electricity power cuts that the island is currently facing, a large increase in the sales of generators has been recorded.
Since the explosion which knocked out the island’s biggest power station, retailers selling generators have seen a massive increase in sales. The Cyprus Mail contacted a variety of retailers who said they had seen an increase in the sales of generators since yesterday.
A small generator is likely to cost around €3,600.
The manager of Metmarketing store in Nicosia said: “I have sold as many generators in one day as I have in one year” and that the demand is now overtaking what is available.
THE GOVERNMENT’S various environmental departments joined forces yesterday to begin comprehensive environmental health and safety examinations around the Evangelos Florakis blast site
Agriculture Ministry officials toured the affected area to record the extent of damage to livestock pens and other land reclamation projects, while health ministry officials collected soil, plant and water samples for analysis.
The Department of Fisheries and Marine Research confirmed that reports of dead fish in the area were untrue, later exploring the wider marine area to assess the blasts’ impact, while the veterinary and health services teamed up to ensure there were no hazardous substances entering the island’s food supply.
TRIBUTES have been pouring in for a brave Paphos mum, who died on Saturday night and who had touched the hearts of many across the island with the tremendous courage she showed in her battle against nine brain tumours, the result of a malignant melanoma.
Alethea Ayres, 35, had been the inspiration for many, as she documented her journey since she was diagnosed with cancer on her personal blog and on the social network site Facebook.
She also brought together the whole community of Paphos who joined forces to raise money to send her for what was hoped would be life-saving treatment in Germany recently.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
