The earth shook and the tragedy was revealed. Former Fire Service Director Markos Trangolas recounts to the Cyprus Times the morning that forever etched his memory. "Unfortunately our people were killed..."
13 dead
The biggest peacetime disaster in Cyprus
11 years ago in Mari. Fires, corpses, grief, anger.
The tragic account of the deadly explosion at the naval base "Evangelos Florakis" on the morning of 11 July 2011. The area is a war landscape. Cyprus in darkness. Mothers and fathers looking for their children. Children and women praying for the return of theirs.
Mari was associated with one of the darkest pages in the history of this land.
Cyprus mourns the victims:
Naval Commander Captain Andreas Ioannidis
Naval Base Commander Commander Commander Commander Lambros Lambrou
Chief Petty Officer Kleanthis Kleanthous
Petty Officer Petty Officer Michael Irakleous
Sailors Miltos and Christos Christoforou
Sailor Antonis Charalambous
Sergeant Major EMAK Andreas Papadopoulos
Firefighter Adamos Adamou
Firefighter Spyros Tanti
Firefighter Panagiotis Theofilou
Firefighter Vassilis Kroko
Firefighter George Yiakoumis
No one forgets nothing is forgotten... The testimony of Markos Trangolas, who lived through the devastation
No one can forget the morning of 11 July when the containers at the "Evangelos Florakis" Naval Base exploded and left behind 13 dead, a bombed landscape, relatives and colleagues looking for news of their loved ones.
At the scene of the tragedy that was written in black letters in the history of Cyprus, the then Fire Service Officer, Markos Trangolas, was there from the very first moment.
He saw, he heard, he cried... he did not forget!
From the room of my house in Larnaca I heard an explosion, I went outside, saw smoke and set off for the spot without imagining what I would see, says Mr. Trangolas.
He remembers and describes to the Cyprus Times
I arrived at the spot at 7:20. From Zygi the atmosphere smelled of gunpowder, cloudy and misty, you couldn't make out what was happening. I could hear sirens coming and going. In the street cut metal, various other smells. Landscape of war.
I was very anxious because no one was answering the radio... I begged and hoped that no harm had come to us.
But I felt that something bad had come to us when I approached... I saw a service car burned, fires everywhere and through the fog I could not see the extent of the destruction.
When I approached the scene of the explosion, I will not forget that I found two SEALs I asked them what happened... they warned me that if I continued a little more I would see bodies.
I contacted the officer, I asked about our people from the first moment. At first no one answered. I didn't want to believe they weren't answering because they were lost. I asked again and again. And while the fires were raging, they called me and informed me of the bad news.
"Unfortunately our people were killed"... And as I went on I saw with my eyes dismembered bodies, charred, not distinguishing whether they were firemen, or military.
A very frightening picture that I have not experienced before. Then I took over the operation to extinguish the fires on the base and at the power station, I took charge of the operations and we fought battles.
Tents were set up next to us with medical paramedics, psychologists came...
It became afternoon to move the bodies.
The moment I will never forget... Relatives looking for their families
In the pain, the grief that prevailed, the turmoil, the father of the deceased Panagiotis Theofilou approached me, a colleague of ours, and he asked about his son. I knew, I had learned about the loss of our colleagues because I asked who was on duty. I had to tell him with a heavy heart that his son was lost...
I also remember the arrival of Andrea Crocus, he was an assistant police chief at the time, he was driving around in his car to find out about his son. I thought, how do we tell this man that his child is gone? I remember everything as if it were yesterday, I tell it and live it again, as if I had lived through a war.
And the continuation was difficult and the pain unbearable...
At every memorial service, as Mr. Trangolas describes, scenes of ancient tragedy were lived out. Relatives outraged, heavy with the loss and why they torture their own people.
Eternal memory... Immortals!
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
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