Tourists injured in quad bike accident in Akamas

Two tourists were hospitalised in Paphos general hospital following a quad bike accident in Akamas, the third accident in the area this year, police said on Friday.

The couple, both aged 26, were driving on the road from the Baths of Aphrodite to Fontana Amorosa on Thursday, when, under conditions that are being investigated, the bike overturned on a sharp turn.

Police said the French tourists were transferred to the accidents and emergency department of the district’s general hospital where they were admitted for further treatment.

This is the third accident on the same dirt road this year, with the Green Party demanding its closure saying the road is dangerous.

On August 8, a 59-year-old French visitor was killed and his daughter, aged 20, was seriously injured when their buggy fell down a 150-metre cliff and into the sea.

After the fatal accident, Kalo Chorio community leader Andreas Christodoulou Machimos asked Attorney General Giorgos Savvides to intervene and assign responsibilities to the state departments and officials responsible for allowing the continued use of the dirt road which hugs the coastline.

While local authorities had repeatedly requested work to be carried out to make the road safer, the Green Party has been insisting on its closure.

A Green Party representative had said the danger of the specific road “is known to all” and that it was “just a matter of time” before another fatal accident happened there.

The same month, a second buggy accident was reported on the same road, with two passengers, aged 21 and 23, who fell down a 2.5 metre cliff.

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old British tourist was also seriously injured following a buggy accident in Paphos late in September. He had to undergo surgery at a private clinic in Limassol to restore his wrist.

Police had not released the exact location of the accident.