Memorial service held for victims of Mari blast 13 years ago

Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas on Sunday gave his “deepest apology” and expressed his respect for the people that died at the Mari blast 13 years ago.

Palmas was speaking at the memorial service for Commodore Andreas Ioannides and Lieutenant Kleanthis Kleanthous in Limassol.

“The self-sacrifice they showed in their final moments highlights the level of their courage. Like a wind of hope, it offers a breath of optimism and hope, encouraging and motivating us all to rise to the occasion. Their generosity, like a lighted sun, reminds us in the clearest way of the concept of debt to our country and teaches us solidarity and service to our fellow man,” Palmas said.

He also paid tribute to the other 11 victims of the blast, Captain Lambros Lambrou, Officer Michalis Eracleous, Officer Antonis Charalambous, the twin brothers Officers Christos and Miltos Christoforou, Lieutenant Andreas Papadopoulos and Sergeants George Yiakoumis, Spyros Tantis, Adamos Adamou, Vassilis Krokos and Panayiotis Theofilou.

The explosion in 2011, which aside from the fatalities also majorly destroyed the infrastructure of the nearby Vassiliko power station, was caused by munitions which had been haphazardly stored in 98 containers at the naval base for over two years. The destruction caused rolling power cuts.

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 Nicosia lawyer Polys Polyviou was appointed, as a one-man committee, to carry out an investigation into the circumstances that led to the blast and establish who was politically responsible.

Questions were raised as to whether it was possible for the investigator to apportion responsibility to government members who had appointed him. The issue of whether a one-man investigation was sound practice, as the investigator would remain unchallenged also arose as did insinuations that the investigation would be a sham, aimed at absolving Demetris Christofias, then president, of responsibility.

Polyviou took strong control over the public hearing and prevented lawyers representing relatives of the victims and witnesses from taking over proceedings, even threatening to conduct the hearing at his office, at one point.

TV cameras were banned under the reasoning that if the proceeding were filmed lawyers would be more inclined to interrupt, a decision about which some complained. As a compromise lawyers could submit questions in writing and, if considered relevant by Polyviou, they could ask them.

Polyviou found Christofias to be mainly responsible, while the respective foreign and defence ministers, Marcos Kyprianou and the late Costas Papacostas, were also found culpable. Christofias though, rejected the findings and accused Polyviou of overstepping his mandate.

Upon completion of the investigation, a three-judge panel at the time ruled that defence minister, Costas Papacostas, was responsible for safeguarding the containers and aware of the dangers posed by the way in which they had been stored, but failed to take action to prevent the explosion.