Fire at Vasiliko power station put out (Update 3)

A fire that broke out at 4pm Wednesday at a the EAC power plant in Vasiliko, was under control by the early evening.

Contractors were working on repairing a sulphur removing unit from 130MW generator which was switched off at the time, with reports suggesting the fire broke out while welding work was being carried out.

The Cyprus Mail has learned that the chimney above the generator was completely destroyed which could result in a down-time of around four months. EAC sources also suggest that the fire could have been caused by human error.

“Six vehicles from EMAK Limassol and Larnaca as well as a foam producing vehicle are at the scene dealing with the blaze,” Andreas Kettis of the fire service said, adding that “the head of the fire service is also present.”

Asked if there were any casualties, Kettis said he had not been informed that this was the case.

In comment on state radio, Christina Papadopoulou of the EAC reassured consumers that there would not be any cuts in the supply of electricity.

The plant was recently fully restored after it was decimated by a munitions blast in the nearby Mari naval base in July 2011, killing 13 servicemen and firefighters and plunging the island into darkness as the primary power plant operated by EAC.

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.