A man died and two others were seriously injured after jumping from the fourth floor of a Larnaca apartment block to avoid arrest during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation on Wednesday, raising questions about the management of the city’s most dilapidated buildings.
The three men jumped from the Filanta apartment complex on Makarios Avenue, near Larnaca port, during a raid by the Civil Registry and Migration Department (CRMD).
One man, who jumped from a fourth-floor balcony and landed on an uncovered area on the second floor, suffered severe head injuries and was taken to Larnaca General Hospital, where he was intubated. He died shortly before 10pm. His identity had not been confirmed at the time of reporting.
Two further injured men were found shortly after 11am in a separate uncovered area at the rear of the same building. The two, aged 28 and 38 and believed to be from Congo, were rescued by Fire Service personnel using a specialist platform and taken by ambulance to Larnaca General Hospital. Their condition is described as serious but stable.
The raid
Police units arrived at the complex shortly after 9am, acting on information that undocumented migrants were living in one of the building’s five blocks, which had reportedly been illegally occupied. The operation was later extended to other building complexes across Larnaca. A total of 19 people believed to be living in Cyprus without permission were arrested and are expected to be deported.
This was not the first such operation at the Filanta complex. A similar raid was carried out last July, during which several undocumented migrants were arrested at the same building.
A Palestinian resident living legally in the complex told Phileleftheros: “We saw many police cars arriving at around 9:30 in the morning. They were searching the apartments. Then some people fell — we don’t know how — and they were taken to hospital.” A female resident said vacant apartments in at least one of the Filanta blocks had been occupied by people for some time.
The incident follows a similar case in Limassol in April 2024, when two men jumped from a fifth-floor window during a migration raid. One of them, 19-year-old Bangladeshi national Anisur Rahman, died from the fall.
An investigation by the Independent Authority for the Investigation of Allegations and Complaints against the Police found no wrongdoing by officers, though the police account of the raid was disputed by an eyewitness living in the apartment.
The building and the DLGO
The Filanta complex has long presented a picture of neglect. The vast complex has nearly 100 owners, who have repeatedly been warned over the years to carry out repairs but have not done so, according to prior Phileleftheros reporting. Some apartments have no doors, with residents using curtains instead. Walls are deteriorating and rubbish is scattered throughout.
The complex is one of three large Larnaca buildings that have been under scrutiny by the Larnaca District Local Government Organisation (DLGO) since early May due to safety concerns. DLGO President Angelos Hadjicharalambous told Phileleftheros that the organisation received surveyors’ reports on Wednesday and would announce within the coming week how it intends to handle the building.
“We expect that by Monday a decision will have been taken on whether the building should be evacuated and sealed, or whether owners should be given time to carry out repairs,” he said, adding that issues of hygiene and illegal occupation fell outside the DLGO’s remit.
Hadjicharalambous stressed that responsibility lay firmly with the owners, who were obliged to act immediately to address the safety risks. He noted that the DLGO would give owners of a dangerous building in Chrysopolitissa one week to carry out repairs, and that owners of another building, part of which collapsed in recent days, had indicated they would proceed with demolition.