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Cyprus
Military Commander Killed in Helicopter Crash
NICOSIA,
July 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies ) - Cypriot army commander,
Lieutenant General Evangelos Florakis, was killed early Wednesday,
July 10, when his helicopter crashed near Paphos in the southwest of
the island, military authorities said.
The
general, who was seconded from the Greek army, was killed with four
other officers of the National Guard while on his way to a military
exercise in the area.
Defense
Minister Socrates Hasikos said the 18-year-old Bell 206 helicopter
made its last contact with the control tower at Larnaca airport at
4:55 a.m. (0155 GMT).
The
helicopter came down in hilly country near the village of Kouklia, not
far from its destination of Paphos Air Base, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
Hasikos
said an investigation had been launched to determine the cause of the
crash.
The
other officers killed included the commander of Cyprus’s small air
force, Brigadier Stelios Demenegas, Lieutenant Nikos Georgiou and the
two helicopter pilots.
No
one knew the destination of the flight or why the commander was using
an old plane unfit to fly at night, said Qatar-based Al-Jazeera
satellite channel.
The
National Guard is some 10,000 strong, mainly made up of Greek Cypriot
conscripts, but including some officers seconded from Greece under a
defense agreement.
The
island has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern
third in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the
island with Greece.
Turkey
maintains more than 35,000 troops in the north in the breakaway
Turkish-Cypriot state.
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