A technical fault delayed the delivery of a CyAlert emergency warning during Monday’s wildfire in Larnaca district, Civil Defence said on Tuesday confirming it activated the Polyvios emergency evacuation plan to safely evacuate residents from Ayia Anna and Psevdas.

Civil Defence said it had assisted in the evacuation of the affected communities in line with instructions from the incident commander and under the provisions of the Polyvios emergency response plan.

It said it was informed at around 3pm that a precautionary evacuation of Ayia Anna and Psevdas was required and immediately activated the plan.

Community leaders were first contacted to notify residents through their available communication channels, while Civil Defence dispatched first responders, liaison officers and the director of its Larnaca regional office to the affected area.

At the same time, the operations control team at Civil Defence headquarters was activated under the deputy commander, along with regional directorates in Larnaca, Limassol and Nicosia.

A total of 42 Civil Defence members and volunteers were deployed to assist with the evacuation and establish a temporary accommodation centre in Mosfiloti for displaced residents.

Civil Defence noted that evacuation plans for all communities had recently been updated in cooperation with local authorities as part of wider emergency preparedness measures, while evacuation exercises had also been carried out in every district.

The service also acknowledged that, despite previous successful tests of the CyAlert system, a technical problem occurred during Monday’s emergency, delaying the transmission to the public of the warning message.

It said the issue is under investigation and is being addressed by technicians from the system’s contractor in accordance with its contractual obligations.