The remains of seven more fallen Greek in Cyprus in 1964 and 1974 were officially handed over to the Greek state today. After 54 years, the remains of five out of the six crew members of the “Phaethon” patrol vessel who were lost their lives in Tillyria in August of 1964 during the bombing of the Turkish air force were returned to Greece.

These are Panagiotis Chrysoulis from Athens, Spyridon Agathos from Corfu, Nicholas Panagos from Arcadia, Panayiotis Theodoratos from Kefallinia and Nikolaos Kappadoukas from Skopelos. Two more members of the “Phaethon” fell heroically on the same day, Nikolaos Niafas from Lamia, whose remains were repatriated in January last year and the Cypriot volunteer from Morphou, Akis Filitas, whose body was buried in his birthplace.

The remains of Phaethon’s crew were delivered at a formal ceremony held at the church of Agios Konstantinos and Helen in Nicosia, to the Deputy National Defense Minister Dimitris Vitsa, and after the ceremony, they were transferred to Larnaca Old Airport, where they left for Greece on a special flight aboard a C-27J Hellenic Air Force transport aircraft. At Larnaca Old Airport, a special ceremony was held in which military honours were awarded to the fallen.

The sacrifice of the “Phaeton” crew

The patrol vessels “Phaeton” and “Arion”, which had been donated by Anastasios Leventis to the Republic of Cyprus, took part in the 1964 battle of Tillyria, during which Turkish aircrafts attacked the positions of the Cypriot National Guard and the surrounding populated areas causing heavy losses.

On August 8, 1964, they attacked “Phaeton”, which on that day was heading towards the bay of Xeros with mechanical problems, coming from the sea area of Mansoura.

As a result of the attack, two non-commissioned officers and four sailors, as well as the Greek-Cypriot volunteer, were killed, while several others were injured, including the ship’s commander, who later lost his right hand due to his injury.