Migration Deputy Minister Nicholas Ioannides has accused unnamed circles of attempting to shift responsibility away from the government of former president Demetris Christofias for the 2011 Mari explosion.

Writing on social media on Thursday, Ioannides, whose father, Admiral Andreas Ioannides, was among those killed, alleged there was a “systematic effort” to deflect responsibility from the Christofias government and to “canonise” former defence minister Costas Papacostas.

“As relatives of the fallen, we are closely monitoring these immoral actions and will return with announcements,” he said.

Ioannides referred to the findings of the independent inquiry led by Polys Polyviou, which examined the circumstances surrounding the explosion at the Evangelos Florakis Naval Base on July 11, 2011.

The blast killed 13 people, including six firefighters and senior military officers, causing extensive damage to the nearby Vasilikos power station.

The explosion followed the storage of 98 containers of seized military material at the naval base for more than two years.

The containers had been confiscated from the Monchegorsk, a vessel carrying military material from Iran to Syria.

The Polyviou report, published in 2011, attributed “very serious” institutional and personal responsibility to then defence minister Papacostas and foreign minister Markos Kyprianou.

It placed the “greatest responsibility” on Christofias as president and head of the government.

“It was the decisions and policy of president Christofias that led to the cargo remaining in Cyprus for a long time, under unacceptable storage conditions,” the report stated.

Christofias rejected the findings and denied any personal responsibility.

Papacostas was later convicted by the Larnaca assize court of manslaughter and causing death through his own negligence.

Three senior fire brigade officials were also convicted, while Kyprianou and former National Guard deputy chief Savvas Argyrou were acquitted.

Separately, a military court convicted former National Guard chief Petros Tsalikidis in 2016 of 13 counts of negligent homicide by omission and sentenced him to seven years in prison.