THE SEARCH for the second victim of Monday night’s flash floods in Paphos resumed at 7am yesterday, and ended 13 hours later with still no sign of the missing man.
Bad weather, rain and storms persisted throughout the day, all but extinguishing hopes that the man may still be found alive.
George Miltiadous, 45, and his wife Maria, 38, whose body was discovered on Tuesday afternoon, were caught in a flash flood near the village of Kissonerga on Monday night. Their car was hit by a cascade of water and mud, and swept over a bridge into the Arkokalami River, which runs down into Coral Bay.
All resources were again called upon, with over 100 rescue service personnel searching a four-kilometre stretch of river.
Bad weather hampered the recovery effort, with almost continuous rain and intermittent storms making conditions increasingly difficult. The Cyprus Meteorological department reported that 20mm of rain fell in the Paphos area yesterday.
Tons of mud have been shifted in an attempt to find Miltiadous, with investigations now focusing the search in the vicinity where his wife was found, three kilometres from the Arkokalami River Bridge. Recovery teams have also identified the Coral Bay area as key in the continuation of the search.
A section of river, just north of where Maria Miltiadous’ body was discovered, has remained untouched by search teams, who say that the area is unreachable. Apart from that, much of the riverbed has now been accessed and searched.
The plan was to resume a search of the seabed, but due to the atrocious weather and rough seas the conditions were impossible to work in. The fire department spokeswoman, Lisa Kemidji, told the Cyprus Mail, “We have not been able to search the seabed because the water is very dangerous. Weather permitting we will do that tomorrow.”
The Civil Defence reported that the sheer quantity of mud has made it difficult for the sniffer dogs to work. The mud masks the relevant smells that allow the dogs to detect a body. Despite this, it was a dog from the Nicosia Civil Defence unit who discovered Maria’s body at around 2pm Tuesday, buried below feet of mud and debris.
Family, friends and members of the public watched on as Maria’s body was brought out from the riverbed on Tuesday. The authorities have been keen to prevent a repeat of such a situation by cordoning off the search sites, blocking the build-up of another audience.
An autopsy was carried out on Maria Miltiadous yesterday morning, revealing that she died of suffocation form drowning; however, a time of death has not yet been released.
The search was postponed at 8pm last night, with the promise that it would resume today.
