I live in Cyprus for many years now. It is a beautiful little island in Mediterranean Sea. It features warm weather for most of the year, sea, very kind and hospital people, plenty of jobs in IT industry, good food and plenty of alcohol, stable currency, and more. It’s really a nice place to live if you can handle small towns and villages. It’s also a great place to raise the kids.
Not much happens here. It is a quiet and simple place. Yet, when something happens or when I write about it, I post it to Cyprus category.
As mentioned earlier, I got a chance to see a beautiful ship Amerigo Vespucci docked in Limassol port last weekend. I’ve taken a few pictures, which, unfortunately, don’t do the ship any justice. The real thing is quite something.
Update: I’ve also uploaded these pictures to Flickr.
Cyprus Mail reports that a beautiful Italian ship “Amerigo Vespucci” will dock in Limassol for four days, starting this Friday.
THE ITALIAN navy training ship “Amerigo Vespucci” will dock in Limassol on Friday for four days during which it will be open to the public Friday, Saturday and Sunday .
[…]
The Amerigo Vespucci has 26 sails and can reach a speed of 12 knots and often takes part in Tall Ship races. The vessel usually carries around 450 people during training voyages.
Cyprus Mail reports that Vasilikos power station was completely destroyed by the explosion. But we already sort of knew that. The questions were more along the line of “What now?”. Cyprus Mail provides some good analysis as to how this will affect Cyprus in the nearest future.
However the cost of this explosion does not just affect in terms of rebuilding, compensating and repairing. The dynamic effects on companies will ensure a return to deep recession, especially if you factor in the effects of the electricity crisis is having in Cypriot companies. The electricity shortage causes three devastating blows to our economy: reliability, capability and cost.
The lack of reliability in electricity provision is a great drag to the economy. Already power cuts are taking place and sadly it seems that since our electricity system is operating at full capacity the authorities have not been able to announce when and where such cuts should occur. As a result business are already suffering from lost labour time, repairing software and hardware issues relating to cuts, and an ever greater need for technical support, all in a period where the focus has been to cut costs and thus remain competitive with other European companies.
Read the full article for more.
I woke up earlier than usual today. It was hot and my air condition wasn’t working for some reason. It turns, the power was gone. Not just my apartment or building. Driving through the city to work, I saw a number of traffic lights not working. People at work from all over Limassol confirmed that they experienced a power cut as well. What happened? Apparently, there was a huge explosion at Cyprus naval base. People say there was an ammunition stock that exploded. Rumor has it that 10 to 12 people are presumed dead. There is extensive damage to the area, including the power station, where the fire broke down.
The news are scarce at the moment. Here is a link I found that confirms some of the rumors I’ve heard around the office.
NICOSIA, Cyprus — A Cyprus Defense Ministry spokeswoman says around 10 people are feared dead following a massive explosion at a naval base.
Aliki Stylianou could not immediately confirm the cause of the explosion which occured at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on the Mediterranean island’s southern coast on Monday at around 6:00am (0300GMT).
State television CyBC is reporting that the explosion also caused numerous injuries and extensive damage to homes in villages near the naval base.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said that a fire at a nearby power station has been contained.
Update: Here is an article from Cyprus News.
