Munitions explosion at Evangelos Florakis naval base

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The ammunition explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base near Zygi on the south coast of the Republic of Cyprus occurred early in the morning on July 11, 2011, killing 15 and injuring over 60; the largest power station on the island was badly damaged. It is one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions ever made by human hands. At the naval base Evangelos Florakis near the adjacent Vasilikos power plant , an oil and gas power plant , the most modern and largest in the country, containers with ammunition exploded and caused widespread destruction. The incident resulted in several resignations by high-ranking politicians and military officials, including two ministers.

Event flow

At around 4 a.m., eyewitnesses reported a fire at the base and subsequent explosions. The major destruction affected the base, the power station and the adjacent civil buildings. Both the commander of the Cypriot fleet and the commander of the base as well as other military personnel and fire brigade forces were killed.

consequences

In large parts of the country and in the capital, there was no more electricity after the accident-related failure of the power plant, as it provided half of the country's needs. Due to the associated failure of various sea water - desalination plants were bottlenecks in water supply.

The follow-up costs were estimated at billions, the value of the oil and gas power plant, which was largely destroyed, was 700 million euros. The incumbent Cypriot Defense Minister Costas Papacostas and the commander of the Cypriot National Guard Petros Tsalikidis resigned a few hours after the accident became known.

Political consequences

Aerial view of the destroyed turbine hall of the power station by a UAV  of the DLR

A little later it turned out that the ammunition was confiscated Iranian cargo that had been destined for Syria . This had previously been found on a Russian ship and confiscated on the basis of the United Nations arms embargo ( UN Res. 1747, point 5 ). A month later, the ammunition was stored in containers at the naval base.

Experts and the commander, who was later killed in the explosion, addressed the risk of explosion, especially since the ammunition containers were only 300 m away from the Vassilikos power plant, exposed to the weather, especially the heat. Despite international support offers, the government did not initiate destruction of the ammunition. President Dimitris Christofias was later quickly found complicit. He and the Minister of Defense, who resigned immediately after the accident and who had publicly emphasized the special security of the storage, were accused of having left the ammunition in the unprotected containers at the base.

On July 13, several thousand demonstrators tried to storm the presidential palace in Nicosia. The Greek government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou blamed the UN for hindering the destruction of the ammunition . Foreign Minister Márkos Kyprianoú resigned two weeks later . Greek media reported, soon after the publication of cables from US embassies by WikiLeaks, confirmed that the president had obstructed the disposal of the weapons out of consideration for his planned visit to Bashar al-Assad . This is what US Ambassador Frank Urbancic reports in his memo. Other WikiLeaks documents indicated that political leaders had turned down offers of ordnance disposal assistance from the United States and other countries.

Later, the lawyer was Polys Polyviou by the government as an independent investigator without legal authority with the investigation entrusted. He was assisted by police officers, an explosives expert and a public prosecutor. In his final report on October 2, 2011, he made serious allegations against the president. The call for his resignation grew louder. Christofias declared the allegations in the investigation report to be insubstantial and denied personal responsibility for the accident: he remained in office.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ spiegel.de , July 11, 2011: Several dead in a series of explosions (December 23, 2016)
  2. ↑ September 20, 2009, rtlnext.rtl.de: Explosions in Cyprus: Water is getting scarce (December 23, 2016)
  3. ↑ Ammunition depot exploded in Cyprus. In: Zeit Online . July 11, 2011, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  4. ↑ George Psyllides: Evangelos Florakis blast kills 12. In: Cyprus Mail. July 11, 2011, archived from the original on March 24, 2012 ; Retrieved April 20, 2016 .
  5. ^ Abendblatt.de , July 11, 2011, explosion at naval base: Defense Minister resigns (December 23, 2016)
  6. ↑ Richard Spencer: Anger grows in Cyprus over 'criminal errors' behind explosion. In: The Daily Telegraph . July 12, 2011, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Michele Kambas: Cyprus says attempted to offload Iran blast cargo. In: Reuters. July 12, 2011, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Gerd Höhler: Munitions explosion harms Cyprus' economy. In: Zeit Online . July 13, 2011, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  9. ↑ Cyprus: Inquiry Blames President for explosion, Prompting Calls to Quit. In: NYT . October 3, 2011, accessed March 22, 2013 .
  10. ↑ George Psyllides: Probe opens into deadly blast. In: Cyprus Mail. July 26, 2011, archived from the original on April 6, 2012 ; Retrieved April 20, 2016 .

Coordinates: 34 ° 43 ′ 30 ″  N , 33 ° 16 ′ 55.2 ″  E