Evangelos Florakis Naval Base explosion, which occurred on 11th July 2011 at Mari, Larnaca in Cyprus was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions of the 21st century and the worst peacetime military accident ever recorded in Cyprus. The explosion had an equivalent yield of approximately 481 tons of TNT and claimed the lives of 13 people, including the Commander of the Navy, the Commander of the base and 6 civilian firefighters. In addition to this a further 62 people were injured.
What happened on 11 July 2011?
The fire occurred in an open storage area on the naval base. There were 98 containers of high explosive artillery shells, shell casings, compressed gunpowders and other explosives, which had been seized by the United States Navy in 2009, after it intercepted a Cypriot-flagged Russian-owned vessel. The shipment was escorted to a Cypriot port and the Cyprus Navy were given the responsibility for the explosives, which they moved to the naval base.
A fire caused the explosion of several containers. It is still somewhat a mystery how the fire started, although a defence ministry official suggested the explosion looked to have been cause by a bush fire that broke out nearby and spread to the base.
According to the Institution of Chemical Engineers, One of the 98 containers was reported to the base Commander and the Ministry of Defence for being deformed only days before the explosion occurred.
In addition to the lives lost and the people injured, the largest power facility in Cyprus, a €700 million power station was severely damaged, wiping out almost half of the island’s electricity. Paphos and Larnaca airports were running their power consumption to the minimum possible and used generators to keep the airports open. Several houses were destroyed, with 250 other homes suffering some damage, which displaced approximately 150 people.
Why were the explosives sat on the base for 2 years untouched?
Many countries offered to dispose of the materials including the UK and US but Cyprus declined these offers. The intercepted vessel carrying the explosives was travelling from Iran to Syria, so there may have been repercussions from Syria if the materials were given to another country.
The method of storing the material was contrary to any rules for storage of ammunition and/or explosives and was wholly inadequate. They were not isolated from the sun and were piled on top of each other. Throughout the month of July temperatures steadily rose hitting a peak of 32 degrees before the explosion.
Additional health concerns from toxic materials
Following the aftermath of the explosion, there were health concerns raised about some of the substances in the containers being toxic, although the Cypriot Health Minister announcing that no public health risk had been detected.
Lessons learned for the industry from a Health and Safety perspective
- A risk assessment should be carried out when changes are made or new materials are introduced to a site, taking into consideration the scope of the change and the potential associated hazard.
- Once the hazards have been identified, controls, mitigation measures, emergency response plans, training, emergency drills, etc. can be put in place.
- If possible, surrounding sites should be monitored to make sure there are no other hazards that could have an impact on the safety of your site.
- Stay vigilant when temporary arrangements last longer than originally anticipated, especially when seasonal changes may have an impact on the severity of the hazard.
- Create a culture in organisations where safety matters and issues are discussed openly and honestly at all levels but are driven by senior management. Senior management need to take responsibility for tackling Health and Safety matters and the safety of their workers should be the top priority.
