SEARCH AND rescue teams yesterday continued looking for a Russian woman who went missing off the Paphos coast in the early morning hours of Tuesday after the boat on which she, her husband and two children were sailing capsized in rough waters.
A Cypriot marine police officer Andreas Georgiou, was drowned during the rescue attempt.
Rescue teams yesterday scoured an area stretching from Faro to Paphos and the ocean area of Avdimou, said Paphos assistant police director Nicos Sophocleous. Paphos police, marine police and fire brigade members, as well as Civil Defence and the National Guard are participating in the searches, which are taking place by land, sea and air.
The searches have so far turned up a jacket believed to belong to Georgiou, Sophocles added. The police officer’s funeral was held yesterday in Kato Polemidhia.
Police Chief Michalis Papageorgiou said Georgiou had been given a posthumous promotion to Sergeant, and police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said police would award Georgiou with a medal for the “unparalleled courage and sacrifice he has shown in his attempt to rescue persons in danger.”
Post mortem results released yesterday indicated that Georgiou died of asphyxiation due to drowning, and that his body did not bear any external injuries that would indicate he died of other causes. Preliminary reports said Georgiou had suffered a severe blow during the rescue attempt.
Georgiou’s family asked yesterday why officers were sent out to sea in strong winds for a rescue operation in only a small, inflatable boat, something they said not even larger vessels would undertake under such conditions. They also asked why the police helicopter that attempted to save them did not stay in the area during the duration of the rescue attempt, and why, after rescuing Georgiou’s colleague and taking him to hospital, it took so long to return to look for Georgiou.
Commenting on the decision to send an inflatable boat to rescue the family, Minister of Justice Loucas Louca said it was necessary to exercise patience until the investigation into the incident was completed. ”We must have the final conclusion of the investigators who are hearing the case,” he said.
But Louca also said he would be looking into the resources – such as boats and helicopters – that the marine police had available to them for rescue operations, commenting that the tender for the purchase of boats, inflatables, and other equipment had been annulled for this year and delayed pending an improvement in the economy.
He did say that the marine police would get two helicopters specifically for conducting search and rescue operations by the end of this year.
Paphos mayor Savvas Vergas told the House Communications Committee on Tuesday that the Paphos harbour, which the family’s boat had been attempting to enter when it capsized, had many “weaknesses” and needs major upgrades, speculating that these weaknesses caused the family’s accident.
”Everything said is premature and perhaps challenging and confusing,” he said. “I think it would be best to exercise a little patience.”
