Bodies of Cypriots killed in train crash to be returned on Sunday (Updated)

The bodies of two Cypriot students killed in the fatal train collision near Larissa, Greece will be repatriated on Sunday, the foreign ministry announced on Saturday.

According to the permanent secretary of the ministry, Kornelios Korneliou, the bodies of Kyprianos Papaioannou, 23, and Anastasia Adamidou, 24, will be brought back to the island from Thessaloniki, Greece.

Reports from a local news site in Paphos said that Adamidou’s family would prefer the funeral not be covered by the media, as a sign of respect to them in this time of sorrow. They have yet to announce when it will take place.

Meanwhile, Papaioannou’s funeral will be held in his home village of Avgorou on Monday, where his father and village priest, Christodoulos, will lead the service.

The family reaching out on social media called for everyone attending to wear white to the funeral, “as a symbol of Christ, light, and the truth”.

Papaioannou and Adamidou, were identified among the victims a day ago, prompting President Nikos Christodoulides to announce a three-day mourning period.

The young man’s father, the priest in Avgorou, who is still in Greece, went to the hospital on Friday, where he was informed of the process of the medical examination by the doctors there.

During his visit, the doctors gave the father his son’s cross and engagement ring.

Commenting the day before, Christodoulides expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of the two Cypriot students.

He said the cost of transferring the bodies will be undertaken by the state, as will their funeral costs.

Following the identification of the two Cypriots, friends, family, and teachers have taken to social media to express their grief and condolences to their families.

The Famagusta Music School, of which Papaioannou was a member, said on Facebook that he was very much loved by his classmates, teachers, and staff both at the music school and Fotis Pittas High School, which he also attended.

Avgorou community leader Panayiotis Michaela told CNA that the community is on standby to do whatever it can to support the student’s family.

He said Kyprianos was a young man who was close to the church.

“His father is the community’s priest; he has been with us in good times and bad times. Now we have an obligation to support Kyprianos’ family and Father Christodoulos,” he added.

He had been travelling back to Thessaloniki after spending the long weekend with his fiancée.

Meanwhile, Adamidou was also on the train after returning from Athens following a trip to Bulgaria.

In a statement on social media her former lyceum said: “The sad news always travels fast. Anastasia is already an angel. Even up until the last moments, we were hoping for a miracle, that never came.

“In the classrooms we now sit, you sat, in the corridors we walk, you walked. You had dreams and goals that were shattered on the train tracks.”

“My dear sweet girl! We will always remember you!” a former teacher Angelos Agathangelou said.