A government official has confirmed that a small piece wreckage recently found in the Maketonitissa area of Nicosia is from the missing military plane that was shot down during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Back on July 21, 1974, the Hellenic Air Force commenced a clandestine air-lift operation (Operation “Niki”) using twenty Noratlas and ten C-47 Dakota aircraft in an effort to transport a battalion of commandos from Crete to Cyprus.
However, the aircraft were erroneously engaged by Greek Cypriot anti-aircraft guns at Nicosia International Airport. The first three aircraft managed to land. The aircraft with the call sign “Niki 4″ got hit by heavy AA fire, caught fire and crashed two miles before the runway.
The plane had been carrying 28 commandos and four crew members while one commando had miraculously managed to survive after jumping out of the plane before it hurtled into the ground. Although 12 were identified through DNA testing, another 19 are still missing and believed to have been buried along with the plane’s fuselage at the military cemetery in Makedonitissa.
On the weekend, workers unearthed a piece of wreckage from the plane which Presidential Commissioner for Humanitarian Issues Fotis Fotiou confirmed “strongly indicates that the wreckage and the missing bodies must be buried close by.”
Excavation works were set to get into full swing as of Monday but the quick discovery of the wreckage means that they are on the right track. Similar excavations at Lakatamia cemetery earlier this year came up with nothing.