Man killed in motorway crash

A MAN was killed instantly yesterday when his car skidded, ploughed into a cliff and flipped on the Paphos to Limassol highway.

Charalambous Panayiotou, 35, lives in London and had been on holiday in Cyprus.

Driving back from his father’s in Paphos at about 4am, he suddenly lost control of his Toyota Rav 4 about 500 metres after the tunnel, on the Limassol side.

The four-wheel drive vehicle crashed into the cliff-face, rolled on to the roof and skidded upside down for another 50 metres before stopping in the middle of the motorway.

Fire brigade officers had to cut the body free from the wreckage and a British Bases doctor pronounced him dead at the scene.

The motorway was blocked for over five hours with all traffic diverted along the old Paphos road until 10.30am.

The causes of the accident were still unclear yesterday evening and SBA Police appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Charalambous is survived by his Cypriot wife and three children.

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.