Historic ambulance journey from Limnitis to Nicosia

AN AMBULANCE travelled from Kato Pyrgos medical centre in the district of Paphos to Nicosia General Hospital for the first time yesterday since 1964.The vehicle made the historic journey covering the distance by passing through Limnitis, then onto the villages of Xeros, Potamos, and Morfou, before finally arriving at Nicosia general hospital.

The purpose of the journey was a ‘dry run’ to determine if the narrow road, which was constructed in colonial times, was fit for vehicles. Parts of the stretch of road were recently cleared, as had been agreed between President Demitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

The temporary road will be used prior to the construction of a new road, which will be wider and have a more permanent surface of premix.

The historic event was also used to time how long the journey for emergency vehicles would take. Andreas Karos the President of the committee for the opening of Limnitis check point said on Radio Pafos, “this is an historic day for residents of Pyrgos, as after 40 years an ambulance has left our medical centre headed for Nicosia.” He added that in return, two Turkish ambulances would cross Pyrgos and head towards the Turkish Cypriot enclave of Kokkina.

Yesterday’s trial run from the Kato Pyrgos Medical Center to Nicosia general took 1 hour and 42 minutes exactly, as the ambulance was traveling at a speed of 50km/h for most of the journey and ran into traffic after crossing into the south.

For a 2km stretch in the buffer zone, the ambulance was escorted by a UN vehicle. Once it was inside territory controlled by the breakaway regime, the ambulance shadowed a police car of the ‘TRNC’ until reaching the Zodhia-Astromeritis checkpoint near Nicosia.

Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou, Talat’s chief adviser Ozdil Nami and the UN’s Special Representative in Cyprus Taye-Brook Zerihoun will be visiting the Limnitis crossing point on Monday for an on-site inspection.

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