Three foreign nationals were injured on Wednesday during an immigration raid in Larnaca after they jumped from the balconies of an apartment complex to avoid arrest, with one man now critically intubated in hospital.

The operation took place at the Filanta apartment complex near the old port, where police and immigration officers were conducting inspections in search of suspected illegal immigrants.

According to police, one of the three men jumped from a third-floor balcony and fell to the street below, while the other two fell from the fourth-floor balcony and landed on the apartment building’s balcony below on the second floor.

Emergency services were called to the scene, where upon all three men were taken by ambulance to Larnaca general hospital.

One of the three remains in critical condition with severe head injuries, while the other two individuals, although sustaining serious injuries themselves, are “out of danger”.

Rescue crews and medical personnel assisted in transferring the injured men to hospital.

The immigration service announced that during the raid some 22 illegal residents in various domiciles have been apprehended.

The Filanta apartment complex has previously drawn the attention of local authorities, with reports indicating that the buildings had also been examined by the Larnaca district local government organisation (EOA) due to the fact they were considered potentially dangerous structures.

A similar incident occurred in Limassol in 2024, when a 24-year-old Bangladeshi national Anisur Rahman died after jumping out of a fifth-floor apartment to escape a police raid on illegal immigration.

The man had attempted to escape from the apartment’s window after the police entered the apartment where he was residing.

In the same incident, another one of 11 men Rahmen shared the apartment with jumped from a balcony and fell 7.5 metres down to the balcony of a neighbouring flat. He survived the fall but was treated in serious condition at the Limassol general hospital.

Ombudswoman Maria Stylianou Lottides later initiated an investigation into the death of the 24-year-old.

The investigation aimed to establish whether the police had followed relevant procedures and whether any human right violations occurred but was later put on hold for publicly unknown reasons.

Police have cordoned off the apartment complex as investigations continue into the circumstances surrounding the incident.