An eyewitness has described to philenews the moments before and during the drowning of two women off the Oroklini coast on Thursday, as questions emerge over the absence of warning signage and an unstaffed lifeguard tower at the beach where the tragedy occurred.
Christina Tsene, who was at the beach with her young son, told philenews the group of five women arrived at the beach in high spirits. “We could hear them laughing,” she said. Tsene said the women, who were Muslim, entered the water fully clothed. While three remained closer to shore, two moved deeper into the sea, between the breakwaters.
Tsene said the three women on the shore suddenly began crying out, trying to call the two in the water back. At one point, her son spotted one of the women raising her hand through binoculars. Tsene said she called 112.
A father who was nearby with an infant on an inflatable responded when the women on shore flagged him down, pointing to show him what had happened because they did not speak English well.
He approached the left breakwater and found one of the women who had remained at the surface. The second was not visible to the naked eye. Another swimmer also came to help, and together they brought one of the women out of the water.
Large rescue forces mobilised by the JRCC arrived at the scene at 19:30, including two Coast Guard and Marine Police speedboats, a helicopter from the 460 MED of the National Guard, vessels from the Larnaca Airport rescue team and the Larnaca Lifesaving Club, and two SHSO ambulances. The two women were transferred to Larnaca General Hospital, where their deaths were confirmed.
Tsene also raised concerns about the absence of warning signage at the beach. She said that if the sea has currents, there should be large, visible signage alerting swimmers, adding that neither she nor others at the beach had any indication currents were present.
She said there should at minimum be a warning advising swimmers not to move between the breakwaters where currents exist, so that those unfamiliar with the sea would know the danger. She said the women sank very suddenly, and that something was happening beneath the surface, compounded by the fact that they were in the water fully clothed.
Philenews also noted that the beach has a lifeguard tower which was not staffed at the time of the incident. Staffing is set to begin on July 1.
The exact cause of the two women’s deaths will be established by post-mortem examination. CID Nicosia is investigating.
