Tragkolas Expresses Reservations About American Report on Limassol Fire

Former Director of the Fire Service, Markos Tragkolas, expressed reservations regarding the report by American experts on the deadly fire in Limassol. While he acknowledges that a cigarette butt could have caused the fire under the given conditions, he questions the presence of multiple cigarette butts in the area.

According to Mr. Tragkolas, the report mentions the discovery of two cigarette butts close to each other, as well as other unburned cigarette butts in unburned vegetation. He also highlighted the history of malicious fires in the Limassol province in recent years.

Mr. Tragkolas referred to the lack of a suitable investigative body in Cyprus for investigating arson, unlike in Greece, where hundreds of arrests have been made for arson. He also expressed doubts about how a white cigarette butt could be found intact after a major fire.

In conclusion, Mr. Tragkolas noted that the Americans reached their conclusions after collecting testimonies and investigative work, something that the Cypriot Authorities could have also done.