Remand for truck driver in fatal accident

A truck driver aged 53 who collided with a car on the Limassol to Paphos motorway was remanded on Friday for three days by Paphos district court.

He was arrested after 47-year-old customs officer Polycarpos Vlahou from Limassol burned to death after the accident at 8:50am near Ha Potami, 21km from Paphos.

The victim was in a saloon car with a colleague, 48-year-old Vasos Eracleous.

Under conditions that are still being investigated, the truck coming up from behind slammed into the saloon car after it had stopped due to a flat tyre.

The driver, Eracleous, was in the back seat looking for tools while Vlahou was on the phone in the front passenger seat.

Eracleous saw the truck coming and jumped out of the way, injuring himself on the crash barrier. Polycarpou was trapped in the car and burned to death.

The truck driver said that as he was driving, he looked to his right to see if there was a vehicle and saw the saloon car but could not avoid it.

Paphos police are investigating.

 

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.