Explosion at Naval Base in Cyprus

Date: July 11, 2011 • Location: Pyrgos, Cyprus

An explosion at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base killed 13 people, including the head of the Cyprus Navy.

On 11 July 2011, at Evangelos Florakis Naval Base, situated at Mari, Larnaca District in Cyprus, a large amount of ammunition and military explosives self-detonated, killing 13 people, including the Commander of the Cyprus Navy, Andreas Ioannides, the base commander, Lambros Lambrou, and six firefighters. A further 62 people were injured. So intense was the explosion that debris was blown as far as 3km from the base. The explosion was the worst peacetime military accident ever recorded in Cyprus, with a yield of approximately 481 tons TNT equivalent, as determined by the official investigation into the accident. It was the largest artificial non-nuclear explosion of the 21st century until the 2020 Beirut explosions.