President Nikos Christodoulides on Tuesday attended the annual memorial service held for the thirteen people who died in explosions at the Evangelos Florakis naval base in Mari twelve years ago.
Three munitions containers exploded at the site in the early hours of July 11, 2011. The most powerful blast happened around 5.30am, killing seven sailors and six firemen, and injuring dozens of others.
The annual memorial service was held at the site of the tragedy, attended by House speaker, Annita Demetriou, the minister of defence and the mayor of Limassol among others.
Afterwards, the president and speaker laid wreaths at the Heroes Monument at the premises of Emak, the special disaster rescue unit.
The explosion in 2011, which also majorly destroyed infrastructure of the Vassiliko power station, was caused by munitions which had been haphazardly stored in 98 containers at the naval base for over two years.
The munitions had been confiscated in 2009 from a Cyprus-flagged ship enroute to Syria and were then stacked in an open space at the base and left exposed to the elements until the day of the explosion, despite repeated warnings about risks.
Following the disaster, the council of ministers declared the deceased as heroes who lost their lives in the line of duty, while the judiciary imposed punishments on those deemed responsible.
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