Explosion At Navy Base

"Landep News"

Explosion At Navy Base

A huge explosion occurred on Monday morning at a Cypriot National Guard base causing 12 people to die, 62 to be wounded and a lot of damage. The defense minister and the National Guard chief resigned over this incident. The president of the country asked them to stay in office until replacement could be found.

The bodies of those who died were lying on the nearby hills at the southern coast of the island, while the wounded ones were taken to the hospitals in the capital Nicosia and at the hospital in Larnaca.

The blast occurred in the early morning as dozens of storages containing gunpowder confiscated in 2009 from a ship that was carrying them from Iran to Syria exploded.

Two of the 62 injured people suffered serious injuries and were kept under observance, while 50 have been treated and released from the hospitals.

Site of the Explosion

The shock wave of the blasts damaged houses in the nearby villages, and the main power station, leaving several areas without electricity.

The desalination plants went offline thus forcing the Ministry of Agriculture to appeal to the public to reduce water consumption as much as possible.

Airports on the island also announced they reduced their power consumption and turned on their generators.

The investigation carried so far rules out the possibility of a sabotage, even though many questions raised around this cargo.

The ship that was carrying it in 2009 was called Monchegorsk, was of Russian origin, under Cypriot flag, and hired by Iran.

Cyprus's Ehtnic Division

It became of interest for the United States Navy as soon as it left the port in Iran, and was searched twice, with the consent of the captain, in the Red Sea, under an international ban from 2007 against weapons from Iran.

In Egypt, it was docked and searched again, but left to continue its route. Still, the U.S. and Israel considered that the ultimate user of the 98 barrels of ammunition would be the Syrian-backed Hamas.

According to WikiLeaks the United States used their connections in Nicosia to convince Cypriot authorities to call the ship into its territory, given that it was under Cypriot flag.

When the ship came to the Cypriot port, the military authorities searched it, unload the content and took it into custody. They released the information that the 98 barrels contained 3,300 cases of high explosives to fuel artillery.

Iran denied that the cargo was intended to be used by the Hamas in Gaza but provided no other explanation for it.

The explosion highlights the unique position of Cyprus in a zone between Europe and the Middle East.

Cyprus is divided between Greek population and a Turkish northern Cyprus, not recognized by most of the states in the world. Cyprus is the only member of the European Union who is not yet a member of NATO.

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