Egypt, Greece, EU, UK send firefighting aircraft to battle Limassol fire
Egypt, Greece, the European Union, and the United Kingdom on Thursday all announced that they had sent firefighting aircraft to Cyprus to help battle the ongoing wildfire in the Limassol district, which remains out of control almost a day after being set.
The sending of an aircraft from Egypt was confirmed by the country’s Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi, who was in Cyprus on Thursday, having initially intended to meet President Nikos Christodoulides for talks regarding natural under the seafloor between the two countries.
Shortly before 5pm, Cyprus’ energy ministry announced that two Egyptian firefighting helicopters had arrived at Paphos’ Andreas Papandreou airbase, and that they were “awaiting instructions and coordination from the local authorities to begin operations”.
Badawi had confirmed that Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos had asked his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty for aerial assistance “as well as other assistance, first aid, and other related matters”.
He also expressed condolences on behalf of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi “for the loss of life during these tragic fires”.
“As soon as [Sisi] was informed of the situation, he immediately ordered that all necessary support be provided to the Cypriot government so that it be able to deal with the situation,” he said.
As such, he added, two “specialised helicopters” are currently being prepared in Egypt to be sent to Cyprus within “the next few hours”.
“We will be closely monitoring the timetable to ensure that they arrive as soon as possible to provide essential assistance to the people of Cyprus and to all the operations which are underway,” he said.
He added that Egypt is a “strategic partner of Cyprus in good and difficult times” and said the entire Egyptian government “is in this together, and we will work to offer all possible support to extinguish the fires and to provide assistance to those affected”.
“We are all in this together. As the situation evolves and support is needed, we will be able to work together to provide it as one. The relation between President al-Sisi and President Nikos Christodoulides, as well as our relationship with the entire government and people of Cyprus, is very special to the people of Egypt,” he said.
He was flanked by his Cypriot counterpart, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou, who thanked the Egyptian government for its proactive response.
“Egypt responded immediately. That is, this minister, my friend, the minister Badawi, responded immediately, called the president and the prime minister [Mostafa Madbouly] of Egypt and they immediately responded with the assistance that he announced,” he said.
He added that he wished to “publicly thank” the Egyptian government, and that “we hope to see all the teams arrive in Cyprus and the helicopters to help us”.
Later on Thursday afternoon, fire brigade spokesman Andreas Kettis announced that the Greek government would send a total of 26 forest firefighters to aid the Cypriot effort.
He confirmed that the 26 would leave the Elefsina airbase, near Athens, at 4pm on Thursday.
The EU confirmed that as part of its civil protection mechanism, two Canadair firefighting aircraft from the bloc’s joint firefighting fleet, known as “rescEU” would be sent to Cyprus. The aircraft are ordinarily stationed in Spain.
Meanwhile, the British high commission in Nicosia on Thursday afternoon confirmed that the British bases in Cyprus are “providing firefighting assistance to the Cypriot authorities” and are “in contact to provide any further support”.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life and properties caused by the wildfires affecting the mountainous areas of the Limassol district,” the high commission said.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli foreign ministry announced that its minister Gideon Sa’ar was “preparing to provide air support to Cyprus in its battle against the fires raging on the island”.
It added that Sa’ar and Kombos “remain in close and constant communication” so as to ensure that the aircraft are “delivered and utilised as quickly as possible”/
“The State of Israel stands by Cyprus … and remains committed to providing assistance in times of emergency,” it said.