(24 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Limassol, Cyprus – 24 July 2025
1. Firefighter helicopters dropping water on the wildfire in Limassol district
2. Firefighters operating in the area
3. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Antonis Christou, resident: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOTS, PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOTS 4 AND 5++
"(I was driving) just outside Kantou village, all the roads were blocked. Police wouldn’t let me get to my home and I fought to get to my home. I entered my home and I see the entire hillside across in flames, the entire valley was burning. I called the fire service."
4. Firefighter helicopters dropping water on the wildfire
5. Firefighters operating in the area
6. Wide of smoldering fields
7. Various of Agios Ioannis Orthodox Church, burned by the wildfire
8. Various of houses burned by the wildfire
9. Resident checking houses burned by the wildfire
STORYLINE:
Police in Cyprus found two bodies inside a burned-out car Thursday after a massive wildfire scorched 100 square kilometers (38.6 square miles) of forested hillsides, destroyed numerous homes and forced the evacuation of a dozen villages on the southern side of the island nation’s Troodos mountain range.
Police initially reported late Wednesday that Civil Defense personnel found the charred body of a single individual inside the vehicle on a main road connecting fire-hit hillside villages.
But a second body was discovered early Thursday morning and police said identification efforts are ongoing.
Fire Service Spokesman Andreas Kettis told state-run Cyprus News Agency there are currently no active fronts but fire crews were still battling numerous flare-ups, and winds are expected to pick up later in the day.
Up to 14 aircraft are resuming water drops over hard-to-reach areas.
Cyprus’ Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis told the state broadcaster that more than 100 people who were evacuated from fire-hit communities are being hosted in temporary shelters.
The fire forced the evacuation of 14 villages along a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) stretch of mountainous terrain.
Media reports showed gutted homes smoldering as flames swept through the outskirts of some villages.
In the village of Lofou, at least 20 homes were destroyed as fires threatened a group of stranded evacuees whose police buses had to turn back as the fire front shifted to block their exit.
Limassol Municipality and the local soccer club Apollonas offered apartments and a basketball court respectively to temporarily house evacuees.
Cyprus has been on high alert for fires this summer after three consecutive arid winters.
AP Video by Petros Karadjias
AP Production by Lefteris Pitarakis, Menelaos Hadjicostis
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