Army officer hospitalised after vehicle falls off a bridge

A national guardsman is in serious condition after the army vehicle he was driving fell off a bridge on the Nicosia Larnaca highway, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

According to an announcement, the jeep the officer, 29, was driving on the highway fell off the bridge in the Alambra area and ended up on a slope.

The guardsman was taken to Nicosia General of treatment.

Police and the national guard are investigating the incident, which reportedly happened during bad weather.

Last year a female non-commissioned officer died at a military camp in Kornos when the jeep she was in overturned.

Corporal Natalie Neophytou was inside a military jeep during a training exercise when the vehicle overturned. With her, inside the vehicle were a cadet and a conscript.

Also, around the same time, Panayiotis Yiannios, a 27-year-old commando, died following an injury after he jumped from a helicopter into the sea in the Lara area of Akamas as part of a scheduled military exercise.

Reports suggested the young man’s fall occurred when the helicopter was hovering at 20 metres above sea level, when it should have been at eight metres.