In the wake of public anger and shock over the death of a Romanian mother in squalid conditions, Labour Minister Zeta Emilianidou yesterday ordered a probe into how the 40-year-old slipped under the welfare radar.
“I have ordered an investigation by the welfare and social services department, which is under my authority, to find out what exactly happened,” said Emilianidou.
The woman was yesterday found dead in her Larnaca flat only after neighbours alerted the fire brigade when they saw the mother’s five-year-old son wandering the hallway asking for help.
The child is now in the custody of social welfare but questions are being asked how social workers lost contact with the woman and why she had stopped receiving benefits.
Moreover questions will be asked how the mother and child were left without support when anecdotal evidence suggests the family could not provide for itself.
State pathologist Nicholas Charalambous, who examined the body, said there were no signs of foul play.
He said the family appeared to have been living in conditions that were so deplorable their health would have been at risk.
“The flat was extremely filthy with piles of rubbish reaching up to one-metre high.”
Cyprus Weekly