Two youths found dead in ditch, hours after crash

TWO YOUNG men were yesterday found dead at the bottom of a ditch in Paliometocho after their car veered off the road.

Yiangos Aristodemou, 21, along with 22-year-old Andreas Michail, were spotted by a passing lorry driver at 6.30am yesterday after being reported missing on Sunday night.

The duo had been at a Paliometocho caf? with friends before announcing at 10pm that they would just be popping out for 15 minutes.

When they failed to show at 11pm, the alarm was raised by family and friends who went out looking for them.

According to the police, Aristodemou’s car swerved off the road sometime between 10.30pm and 12.30am before falling nine metres into the ditch.

Excessive speed has initially been blamed for the tragedy, with village residents complaining that the particular stretch of road, near the shooting range, is often used by youths on motorbikes and cars for racing.

A relative of Michail told state radio that he wouldn’t have been surprised if the pair had been testing the car’s high-speed capabilities for an upcoming race.

Search teams apparently passed the ditch on three separate occasions, but didn’t see anything due to the poor light conditions on the road.

An eyewitness who had been at the caf? said the pair had not been drinking alcohol. “One was drinking coffee, with the other enjoying a Shark energy drink,” he said.

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