The operation to remove two vehicles that remained stuck in Larnaca’s salt lake for a week has cost €7,000 including VAT, exceeding the initial estimate of €5,000 due to the complexity of the extraction.
According to Larnaca Municipality officials, the operation, which was undertaken by a private company using a specialised crane, took considerably longer than expected.
The vehicle owner is expected to cover these costs, and the cars have been moved to municipal storage facilities.
Both vehicles are registered to the same owner, who also faces a €2,000 fine imposed by the Game Service. As of noon on Thursday, the owner had not appeared to pay the amount and collect the vehicles.
When asked what the municipality plans to do if the owner fails to come forward, Larnaca Mayor Andreas Vyras told Philenews that they would follow the legislation for abandoned vehicles.
“If he doesn’t appear in the coming period, the Municipality will proceed with a relevant publication, and the two vehicles will be put up for auction,” he noted.
The challenging recovery operation took place yesterday and lasted seven hours, requiring a crane and large wire cables to extract the vehicles from the middle of the salt lake.
The incident began on Wednesday, October 8, when the first driver entered the salt lake and became stuck in the mud. He then called a second driver to help free him, but the second vehicle also became immobilised.
Larnaca Deputy Mayor Iasonas Iasonidis revealed the unusual reason given by the first driver for entering the protected area: “When municipal services spoke to him, he said he was trying to get closer to the sunset to capture better images with his camera”.
