Limassol, Cyprus. Police have defended their response to Thursday’s closure of the Limassol-Nicosia motorway, saying the hours-long disruption was unavoidable during the recovery of an overturned heavy goods vehicle and the removal of gravel from the road.
Traffic police spokesman Giorgos Milis said the incident affected traffic in both directions after a truck weighing more than 35 to 40 tonnes overturned and spilled its cargo onto the carriageway.
Recovery operation
Milis said cranes were required to recover the vehicle and the road had to be cleaned before traffic could resume.
He said specialised recovery cranes must be used when heavy goods vehicles are involved and may be located anywhere in Cyprus. In this case, a crane was brought from Larnaca, while two cranes were ultimately needed to recover the truck.
The cranes are called by the truck’s insurance company rather than by police, he said.
Safety and traffic diversions
Responding to questions over why motorists were delayed for several hours, Milis said safety procedures could not be rushed.
“If a crane lifts the load incorrectly, the crane itself could overturn,” he said.
Milis said incidents of this scale occur only once or twice a year, but prolonged closures on the Limassol-Nicosia motorway have significant consequences because it is Cyprus’ busiest road.
Addressing criticism over an apparent lack of police presence, he said officers were deployed at three key junctions to manage traffic and direct vehicles onto the old Limassol-Nicosia road.
“We had a three-lane motorway that suddenly had to be channelled into a single lane before traffic could be diverted,” he said.
