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Powerful explosions rocked the naval base Evangelos Florakis near Zigi to Limassol at 06:00 am. After hours-long silence, the Cypriot government spokesman announced that the strong explosion caused the death of 12 people and injured 62.

The area around the base is half-destroyed. The road to the naval base is filled with broken branches, pipes, iron and glass. According to the Cyprus News Agency, the visibility along the old road from Nicosia to Limassol in the regions of Marie and Vasiliki is very low. The police have cut off the road and allow only ambulances to pass. But they can only pass a certain distance from where they get the wounded and take them to the hospital in Limassol. The Cypriot government appeals to the citizens of Larnaca and Limassol not to go to the hospitals without a serious reason for it. 

Among the victims are soldiers and firefighters. Although the authorities have not announced the number of deaths officially, the Cypriot Interior Minister Neoklis Sikiliotis said that the bodies of the victims are transported to the hospital in Nicosia. Meanwhile, the Cypriot Blood Centre made ​​an urgent call for blood from all groups.

The President of the country Dimitris Christofias convened an urgent meeting of the Ministerial Council at 12:30 and is currently on the site of the tragedy. A little earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Lieutenant General Petros Tsalikidis visited the naval base too. "There was an explosion in containers of munitions which were seized from a ship three years ago. Our efforts are aimed at tackling the crisis," he said.

According to unconfirmed information, firefighters made an inspection last Wednesday and insisted on destroying or cooling the containers because of the serious danger of explosion due to the high temperatures.

The fire started in two of the containers at 4:30 am and caused a chain explosion gradually. The flames were visible from great distances and the explosion was heard at a distance of tens of kilometers.

There are problems with electricity in most of the island. According to the Minister of Commerce Antonis Paschalides, the disaster is biblical. He urged all who have power batteries to use them to help alleviate the national electrification grid. The President of the Cyprus Energy Regulatory Authority Harris Thrasou stated that the damage to the largest power plant in Cyprus is significant.

The Greek Minister of Defence Panos Beglitis expressed his condolences to the Cypriot people and said that he is in constant contact with his Cypriot counterpart Kostas Papakostas, notifying him for the readiness of Greece to send medical aid and medicines.

Several hours later, the Minister of Defence Kostas Papakostas and the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard Petros Tsalikidis resigned. The exact number of the victims has not yet been disclosed. According to various sources, between 12 and 40 people are dead.

Earlier, the President of Cyprus Dimitris Christofias visited the naval base and said that today will remain as another "black July day" in the country's history together with the Turkish invasion in 1974.

According to initial unofficial information, the events have happened in the following way: there were two fire outbreaks at the naval base and the near power plant shortly after 4:00 am with little variation over time. The soldiers at the naval base and the officers of the National Guard tried to extinguish them. Firefighters joined them a little later.

Minutes later, however, came the blast of the 98 gunpowder containers. Bodies, fire trucks and pieces of installations scattered in all directions and in hundreds of meters. The naval base which was the most modern base in Cyprus is destroyed.

Rescue teams are still searching for the missing. The search is taking place outside the area of ​​the base and even at sea. Sources, who have managed to enter the base after the blast, said the explosion crater was 50 m in diameter.

Nikos Asprou, the mayor of the village of Mari, which is located a few kilometers away from the naval base told GRReporter: "We heard the roar of the explosion at 5:40 am. We understood that it came from the naval base and we are following the tragic events now. The most fatal is the loss of so many lives."

The village is one of the six villages the detonation damaged the most. "The church is completely ruined. In other words, I can say that there is not a standing roof and in some cases there are walls fallen. Everything is ruined, windows, tiles, broken objects. This is how the village looks like." According to some data, pieces of the explosion were found more than 10 km away from the base.

The 46 injured were taken to the hospital in Limassol. Two of them are in very serious condition. There is a strong people’s response to the call for donations of blood. The bodies of the victims are sent directly to the hospital in the capital Nicosia, where their identity will be established through the DNA.

The Minister of Interior Neoklis Sikiliotis said before the government meeting that no version of the causes of the accident could be excluded. According to unnamed military sources, however, the reason for the tragedy was "criminal inactivity". The containers storing quantities of TNT explosives were placed outdoors in temperatures of around 42° C. "Imagine what the temperature was inside the containers under these conditions," they said. As a result, the containers changed their shape and the soldiers used water hoses to cool them.