12 deaths and two resignations. Cyprus Navy beheaded
(BRUSSELS2) The Iranian ammunition had been seized in 2009 while transiting on a Cypriot ship (the Monchegorsk) to Syria. They had since remained stored in direct sunlight at the Evangelos Florakis naval base near Mari (in Cyprus). They exploded for a still unknown reason causing at least 12 deaths, all soldiers or firefighters. Among them, the commander of the Cypriot navy, Andreas Ioannides, and the commander of the base, Lambros Lambrou, as well as 4 other officers and 6 firefighters whose identities were revealed by a press release from the Cypriot police. About sixty injured were also reported - according to the Cypriot press - of which 2 are still in critical condition in hospital. The nearby power plant - which is the most modern on the island and supplies half of the electricity - was also affected. Cypriot Defense Minister Costas Papacostas tendered his resignation, as did Chief of Staff Petros Tsalikides. They were accepted.
For comments on the causes, we are waiting for the expert report of the accident, but this does not remove the fact that the minitions must not be stored in direct sunlight, there are negative or positive temperatures to respect and expiry dates to be observed. observe beyond that they must be destroyed, any good soldier knows it all the more so the leaders, negligence, and routine, not knowing how to prevent the risk of all the active materials is a job; But let's not throw the stone because at we also have very unstable ammunition stores buried in places known by some (exudation, formation of picrates, and so on, we are going straight into the wall, time is not a guarantee of security well in the opposite.