Investigations ongoing after fatal plant fire in Dromolaxia

Investigations into the fire that broke out last Sunday morning at a polyurethane manufacturing plant in Dromolaxia will continue on Tuesday.

The body of a 63-year-old electrician who died in the fire was recovered on Monday around 3pm. He has not yet been named, but he is known to be a Greek Cypriot.

The body was retrieved from a safe pathway created on the ground floor of the factory. The victim had been performing electrical work on the first floor and was unable to escape.

Four other people working on ground-floor maintenance managed to exit the building, although one of them was hospitalised with burn injuries. The factory was completely destroyed by the fire.

The scene remains guarded, and further assessments are planned to check the building’s structural stability before allowing experts inside to determine the cause of the fire.

The victim’s family has appointed forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis to represent them during the autopsy.

“Nothing is left inside the factory, and initial information is being reviewed by police,” Fire Servie chief Nikos Longinos said on Monday, adding that other workers reported the man was working in the loft, which has since collapsed entirely. “The man became trapped in the fire.”

Longinos said the operations to recover the body on Monday were extremely difficult due to a potential roof or debris collapse at the site.

“The situation inside is extremely dangerous due to the intense fire and high thermal load,” he said. “Fires involving flammable materials and petroleum products can quickly escalate, posing severe risks to human lives, and the facility’s infrastructure is in a critical state.”