Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis on Friday said that “we had absolutely no loss of life” in the wildfire which has been raging in the Limassol district since Wednesday, except for the two people who did die.

“Indeed, some failures, difficulties, and problems may occur, but we must also emphasise the positive aspects of this operation, which is why I publicly express my gratitude that, first of all, apart from the unfortunate incident of our two fellow human beings, while 16 whole villages were evacuated, we had absolutely no loss of life,” he said.

Speaking to journalists, he also echoed the statements made by government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis regarding the “unprecedented” nature of the wildfire and the conditions surrounding it, including the high temperatures and high winds.

“Many of you were eyewitnesses to the speed and the way the fire was developing when we were together in the village of Ayios Amvrosios and within a split second, the fire, which was between 500 metres and a kilometre away, came to exactly where we were, and we just about had time to move away from there,” he said.

He added that the government had set a “primary goal … from the beginning” with regard to the fire, and that “damages and losses to property were limited to the greatest possible extent”.

In addition, he said, military infrastructure, including ammunition depots, as well as the industrial area in the suburb of Ayios Sylas and much of the Troodos forest, were “protected with superhuman efforts”.

“This was all done through a titanic, gigantic operation which was set up at this point and at previous points … I repeat that any failures, weaknesses which have been highlighted, these are precisely the gaps we should seek to fill from now on,” he said.

Asked what “weaknesses” existed in Cyprus’ response to the fire, he said he was “getting straight to the point”.

“One such weakness that I identified, because I was constantly there, was a weakness in evacuation. Although, as a result, we still get top marks on this. Yes, to get these top marks, we went through many incidents and dangers, which in other similar cases should not create an obstacle to evacuation,” he said.

He added that there had been a case in which an individual had “used a dangerous agricultural tool to prevent firefighters and rescuers from saving him from the burning environment in which he found himself”.

Such cases, he said, came about because people were “under emotional stress regarding their property and facing the risk of losing it”.

“There were helpless people, elderly people in wheelchairs,” he added.

“Nevertheless, I repeat, from the result and despite the difficulties and failures, I repeat, it seems that we have, at this point, fortunately, not mourned any other victims.”