11th July marks the third anniversary of the explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base. The annual memorial for the victims was held at the weekend, ‘Famagusta Gazette’ reported.
Three years ago to the day, 98 containers of explosives that had been stored for 2½ years in the sun on the base near Zygi, self-detonated.
The resulting explosion killed 13 people, 12 of them instantly, including Captain Andreas Ioannides, the Commander of the Navy and the base commander, Lambros Lambrou.
Four navy personnel and six fire fighters also died, while a further 62 people were injured.
The explosion caused severe damage to hundreds of buildings nearby including all of the buildings at Vasilikos, the island’s largest power station, responsible for supplying over half of South Cyprus’ electricity.
This left much of South Cyprus was without power in the immediate aftermath of the incident and rolling blackouts were initiated in order to conserve supplies.
