The UK Cypriot couple were found dead in their car on the Alassa road near Monagri after fleeing their holiday home in Silikou during last week’s fire in Limassol.
Dimitris Filippidou Pastou, known as Pamboulis, aged 85, and his wife Maro Avraam Filippidou, 77, were discovered side by side in their vehicle on the Alassa road near Monagri. The couple had been fleeing from their holiday home in Silikou village when they became trapped by the advancing flames.
Dimitri and Maro were from Kingsbury in Loňdon and they left the UK to live in Cyprus twenty years ago Dimitris was a tailor and Maro was well known in LGR circles and was a founder member of the LGR Club.
The couple’s last communication occurred around 20:30 on Wednesday evening when they spoke with their neighbour in Limassol. “They told her that the situation in the village had become dangerous and they were starting to return,” Their nephew said.
The Nephew said “When I tried to call them around 22:38, it was already too late. Their phone went to voicemail,” Filippidis said. The neighbour then contacted police to report them as missing persons when they failed to arrive.
Filippidis said his uncle and auntie who were originally from Ģypsou and Morphou respectively had returned to Cyprus approximately 20 years ago after living in England. “With my aunt they lived in Limassol, but they went often to their holiday home in Silikou to avoid the heat. There they spent their time, in their garden, peacefully. Their house, ironically, did not burn,” he said.
According to police information relayed to the family, the vehicle’s engine seized due to extreme temperatures. “Unfortunately, they entered the road and according to what police told us, such high temperatures developed that the car’s engine burst. As they told us, it appears they had no visibility, reached the point where they were found and were trying to stop,” Filippidis said.
“They estimate they were trapped by the heat, stopped the vehicle and burned. My uncle was the driver and aunt was in the passenger seat. However, when they found them, my uncle was leaning over her. That’s why at first they didn’t know there were two dead,” he said.
The Silikou community leader had advised residents on evacuation routes after sounding evacuation bells. However, the road from Agios Georgios Silikou towards Monagri remained open, which the couple followed. The main route through Lania had been blocked.
“My uncles entered that road which had been blocked from the north – so people wouldn’t come. Perhaps other fellow citizens had made the same mistake there,” Filippidis said.
Multiple villages above Kouka, including Pera Pedi and Lofou, were evacuated as residents fled in panic. Authorities had closed some roads but not all access routes.
Filippidis said identification remained challenging. “They had been completely burned. I don’t want to think about how horrible their death was. I hope they died from the fumes, the smoke, and didn’t feel the burn,” he said.
DNA identification remains incomplete despite the 85-year-old’s daughter arriving in Cyprus from England several days ago. Police have not officially released the victims’ names, though the Community Council of Gypsou announced the deaths.
The couple’s holiday home in Silikou was not damaged by the fire.
