A store of munitions, seized from a vessel heading to Syria from Iran in 2008 could be at the heart of the explosion which reportedly killed twelve people this morning.
A picture of large scale devastation is emerging after a massive blast in a munitions dump at the Zygi naval base.
Electricity remains off in much of Cyprus, and state TV are showing pictures of ambulances and army trucks ferrying in injured people to a local hospital, many of them covered in blood. Large scale damage can be seen to a huge section of the barriers of the Larnaca-Limassol highway and a huge crater about one kilometre from the power station was shown on state TV.
The blasts, which happened just after 6am, caused extensive damage to property in the area and sparked wildfires in nearby scrubland in the tinder-dry summer conditions, the television said.
A police spokesman told the state CNA that two containers of gunpowder caught fire. In all, there were 98 containers in the depot.
The Evangelos Florakis naval base near Mari is used for local marine operations and training.
The explosion happened in a section of storgae area with containerized ammunition which were seized from a ship in 2008.
Zygi, on the outskirts of Limassol, is home to the transmitting station of the BBC World Service, which appears to be off air on 1323 AM.
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