Cyprus navy base blast kills at least 10

At least 10 people were feared dead after a huge explosion – thought to have been caused by a brush fire setting light to containers of gunpowder – tore through a Cypriot National Guard naval base today, the Defence Ministry said.

The ministry said the blast happened at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on the Mediterranean island’s southern coast at around 6am (3am Irish Time).

State radio said the dead included two Cyprus navy sailors, two soldiers and five firefighters.

Footage broadcast on state television CyBC showed numerous damaged cars along a stretch of motorway near the base.

One person who was in a car passing the base at the time of the explosion told CyBC that it felt like “a bomb had been dropped on the car”.

CyBC said the blast also caused numerous injuries and extensive damage to homes in villages near the naval base.

A ministry official said it appeared to have been caused by a brush fire that broke out nearby and spread to the base.

The blaze ignited gunpowder stored in containers that Cypriot authorities confiscated in February 2009 from a ship sailing off its coast. The ship, the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorsk, had been suspected of carrying the gunpowder from Iran to Gaza.

State radio quoted National Guard Chief Petros Tsalikides, who was at the naval base, as saying that the explosion caused a “great catastrophe”.

Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos said a fire at the nearby Vasiliko power station had been contained.

Cyprus Electricity Authority official Yiannis Tsouloftas said the power station - the island’s primary electricity generator – suffered extensive damage as a result of the explosion’s concussion wave and would remain offline for at least today.

He said the island’s two other smaller power stations would try to cover electricity demand, but authorities were appealing to the public to reduce consumption as much as possible.