Cyprus: Eight dead in blast at Zygi base

At least eight people have been killed in a blast at a munitions dump in southern Cyprus.

Early reports said a fire broke out at the Evangelos Florakis naval base at Zygi in the early hours of the morning.
Two containers of explosive caught fire, a police spokesman told the semi-official CNA news agency. There were 98 containers in the depot.
The blasts were the probable cause of widespread power cuts on the island, the spokesman said.
There are suggestions the explosives were confiscated from a ship travelling from Iran to Syria two years ago, the BBC's Tabitha Morgan in Cyprus reports.
State television said the blasts caused extensive damage to property in the area and sparked wildfires in nearby scrubland in the tinder-dry summer conditions.
The navy is the smallest element of the Greek Cypriot armed forces, consisting mainly of patrol vessels, our correspondent says.

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