The former director of the Fire Brigade, Markos Tragolas, expressed disbelief in the conclusion of the American AFT experts on the causes of the deadly fire in Limassol, which are attributed to cigarette butts.
Mr. Tragolas, speaking to State Radio, repeated several times that something "does not fill him 100% at the base of the history of the region", adding that "somewhere the result is not clear", referring to the cause of a fire from a cigarette butt.
"I don't dispute the fact that cigarette butts may have been discarded, but the question is whether it was done by reckless action or by intention," he said.
He also wondered how it is possible that so many cigarette butts were found at such a short distance. "Others were found nearby and they were not burned, the vegetation was not burned. I wonder how it is possible that so many cigarette butts were found at such a short distance from each other."
It is a fact, he clarifies, that a cigarette butt can cause a fire. However, one of the two cigarette butts believed to be the cause of the fire had not burned at all, "it was completely white," he said, and wondered: "Was it old or was it in the context of disposal after the fire was extinguished?"
Mr. Tragolas also pointed out that the mountainous area of Limassol is plagued by fires and that before the fire in question, a fire had broken out at a nearby point at 9:00 p.m.
Mr. Tragolas also said that it is different to throw away a cigarette butt recklessly and another to do it maliciously, underlining that the report speaks of recklessness. "Can anyone rule out that it was done intentionally? Nobody," he pointed out.
