EXPLOSIONS AT a munitions dump at a Greek Cypriot naval base have killed 12 and damaged the main electricity plant in the south of the island, causing widespread power cuts that could last for months.
Five firefighters, four members of the Greek Cypriot national guard and two sailors were among the dead. Three seriously wounded people underwent emergency surgery, while 60 suffered minor injuries.
The Vassiliko plant’s two main fuel tanks were levelled and three of its four main buildings gutted. The force of the blast blew out windows of homes and sea-front restaurants in the resort village of Zygi, popular with foreign tourists. In the picturesque village of Mari, east of the base, every home was damaged. Cars travelling along the main highway between the capital Nicosia and the port city of Limassol were struck by a shower of metal shrapnel.
Electricity cuts closed the international airport at Larnaca for several hours and rolling power cuts were ordered as the temperature soared to 40 degrees. Health officials warned that water should be used sparingly as the power shortage had reduced the output of desalination plants.
After visiting the site, President Demitris Christofias spoke of a disaster of “biblical proportions”. He accepted the resignations of defence minister Costas Papacostas and national guard chief Petros Tsalikidis who had failed to relocate the material from the vulnerable site.
The blasts were set off by an early morning brush fire that torched 98 containers of explosive material seized from a ship carrying cargo from Iran to Syria.
The Russian-owned, Cypriot-flagged Monchegorskwas intercepted in 2009 and after repeated searches the containers were impounded under a 2007 Security Council resolution banning the export by Iran of arms and explosives. The US and Israel claimed that the Iranian cargo was bound for Hamas-ruled Gaza and exerted pressure on the Cypriot authorities to seize it. In cables from the US embassy to Washington published last year by WikiLeaks, Cyprus's role in the operation was described as "half-hearted".
Iran was furious over the interception and denied it was intended for either Hamas or the Lebanese Shia Hizbullah movement. Tehran’s ambassador to Cyprus paid a brief call on Mr Christofias after the explosions.
The disaster struck at a time Cyprus was set to receive thousands of tourists, one of the island’s main sources of revenue. The electricity shortage could mean many tourists stay away.
This is the worst disaster to hit Cyprus since the 2005 aircraft crash in Greece that killed 121.