Third Larnaca drowning at unguarded beach as only 10 of 19 towers staffed

Local beachLarnacaTop News Third Larnaca drowning at unguarded beach as only 10 of 19 towers staffed Relevant News Yellow warning issued for thunderstorms 18 August 2026 Third Larnaca drowning at unguarded beach as only 10 of 19 towers staffed 18 August 2026 Kalo Chorio fire: two probes reach Attorney General and army chief 18 August 2026 Natasa Christoforou 18 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber A woman has drowned in Larnaca’s shallow coastal waters in the third such death this year in the Oroklini-Pyla area, and only 10 of the district’s 19 lifeguard towers are staffed, philenews reports, putting lifeguard staffing and hours back under scrutiny. Investigators are still working to establish the cause of the latest drowning, which happened at a time and place with no lifeguard cover, as in the two previous cases. On June 18, two 20-year-old girls from Somalia died in the sea off Oroklini. Last Saturday, a 35-year-old woman from Romania drowned at the CTO beach in Pyla, and one of her children remains in hospital. The tower at that beach is staffed by a lifeguard until 6pm, and the incident was recorded 20 minutes later, on a beach with hundreds of swimmers present. Other beachgoers spotted the mother and her two children and stepped in as rescuers, pulling the woman and her two daughters, aged 12 and 14, to shore. Despite efforts by rescuers who rushed to the scene, the mother could not be revived, and the two girls were taken to Makarios Hospital. The 12-year-old remains in hospital in stable condition, police said. The 14-year-old is out of danger and has been moved to the hospital’s paediatric ward. The children’s father and a third sibling were also on the beach at the time. Only 10 of Larnaca’s 19 lifeguard towers are staffed, a shortfall attributed to a lack of interest in the job. According to Savvas Ioannou, head of beaches at the Larnaca District Administration, three towers are staffed at Finikoudes, three at Mackenzie beach, one at Kastella beach, one at the Oroklini kiosk, one at Chrysopsaro in Oroklini, and the tower at the CTO beach in Pyla. Ioannou said interest from qualified candidates was higher in previous years, allowing more towers to be staffed. “The funding is there, and there are far more approved positions than are being filled, but for some reason there just isn’t the interest,” he said, adding that the Larnaca district employs 31 lifeguards, 11 permanent and 20 temporary, against 44 approved positions. The Larnaca District Administration sets different hours for each beach depending on visitor numbers. The CTO tower, for example, is staffed from 10:30am to 6pm, the same hours as the Oroklini and Kastella (Mackenzie) beaches. At Finikoudes, lifeguard cover runs from 7am to 8pm, while one of the Mackenzie towers operates from 7am to 7pm. The tower at the spot where the double drowning occurred in Oroklini has not been staffed at all this year, and no measures have yet been taken to warn swimmers that the sea deepens sharply between the breakwaters there. ‘Where there are lifeguards, drownings are almost non-existent’ The understaffing of the towers has also angered lifeguards themselves, who say they have been calling for action for years. “Where there are lifeguards, drownings are almost non-existent,” Polys Pallikaros, president of the Pancyprian Lifeguard Federation, told philenews. He pointed to the rescue of a child in Paphos last Sunday as an example, adding that officials need to hear about such cases “to understand what a lifeguard’s job involves.” Towers on beaches across Cyprus remain closed this summer due to a lack of interest, he added. “The ministry was misinformed by its own officials and believed there weren’t enough trained lifeguards,” he said, noting that because the lifeguard profession in Cyprus is considered seasonal, the sector faces problems from contracts advertised for ten, eight, five, four or three months. “Why would someone with lifeguard qualifications give up their job for seasonal work?” he asked. Most towers close at 6pm, though some beaches have cover until 7:30pm, Pallikaros said on lifeguard hours. “To extend lifeguards’ working hours, financial incentives need to be offered. There also needs to be dialogue with workers so these problems can be resolved,” he said. The federation had written requesting the use of unemployed lifeguards but received no response, he added. “We’ve been discussing the same problems for 15 years. I throw my hands up,” an exasperated Pallikaros said. Disputes between lifeguard clubs blamed for shortage of candidates Announcing a change to the lifeguard certification system from next year, Local Government director Antonis Oikonomides told CNA that the shortage of certified candidates is due, among other things, to disputes between lifeguard clubs and the Cyprus Lifeguard Federation (KON). “The problem isn’t the number of approved lifeguards, which is more than sufficient, nor is it their pay. The problem is that there aren’t enough candidates to staff the beaches,” he said, noting that while several lifeguard clubs train candidates and issue certificates, current rules require lifeguards to hold a certificate approved by the Cyprus Lifeguard Federation. Disputes between lifeguard clubs and the federation mean there are not enough certified lifeguards to meet beach staffing needs, according to Oikonomides. Lifeguard clubs have long complained of problems certifying the lifeguards they train, he added. “That’s why we want to change the system,” he said, calling the current model “problematic.” The Interior Ministry has been in talks for months with the Human Resource Development Authority (HRDA), he said, so that specific bodies can be certified by the Authority and then issue lifeguard qualifications for beaches. The other issue, according to Oikonomides, is the seasonal nature of the work. “For four months, it’s not easy to get someone interested in coming to work,” he said, noting that the issue will be examined once this year’s season ends. Finally, he said €500,000 has been allocated this year for lifeguard equipment, with a similar amount planned for each of the next two years, while tenders are under way for the purchase of ten jet skis and other equipment. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Yellow warning issued for thunderstorms Kalo Chorio fire: two probes reach Attorney General and army chief Cyprus mourns seven dead in five tragic incidents this summer Christodoulides, Mitsotakis, Macron agree to push cable project forward with navtex, French survey ships A wetter year rescued Cyprus’s dams, but key reserves could still run dry Modern offices pull ahead in Nicosia as older buildings face obsolescence ‘Every generation has to live and deal with what came before.’ : Cypriot author on shared guilt Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.