A 70-year-old road worker who was killed on the Nicosia-Limassol motorway on Thursday night was standing directly behind a large illuminated flashing arrow sign when a car struck it, hurling him into the central reservation ditch, investigators have found.
Savvas Ioannou, from Paphos, had been called in to work that evening to cover for an absent colleague. He was placing cones to close the right lane near the village of Moni at around 7:25pm when the 37-year-old driver’s car hit the arrow sign, which was mounted on a light truck. Four of Ioannou’s colleagues witnessed the incident and will give statements to Limassol traffic police.
Investigators found no braking marks at the scene. The 37-year-old driver, who was returning home from work in Larnaca, told police under questioning that he had not noticed anything — neither the road signs before the arrow nor the cones, according to information obtained by philenews. He sustained minor injuries and was taken to a private hospital. Alcohol and drug tests returned negative results. He has been arrested and is being held in custody at Limassol CID.
Limassol traffic police chief Marios Charalambous said at the scene on Wednesday that signage was in place at the location and that witnesses reported the flashing arrow was lit at the time of the collision. He noted that the stretch of road has no street lighting, which may have affected visibility, and said this was also being investigated. The scene was photographed using a drone and a reconstruction is expected to take place.
The Department of Labour Inspection will conduct a parallel investigation into the incident as a workplace accident, examining whether all required safety measures were in place.
A post-mortem examination on Ioannou’s body is scheduled for today.
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