Cyprus Latest News MayJune10

Catch up with the headlines on the Cyprus latest news MayJune10

Hotel staff may strike this summer

Tourists to Cyprus this summer may see hotel staff go on strike following, according to the Cyprus Mail, "a decision by the Cyprus Hotels Association (PASYXE) to reject the renewal of the collective agreement with staff, describing it as unfair."

It would appear that the Association drafted the new agreement without consulting hotel staff unions who were lobbying, among other things, for triple time to be paid on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

While there has been disagreement between the two sides for some time, a strike could not come at a worse time for the Cyprus tourist industry which is struggling in the current economic climate. If the hotel industry wasn't already in the doldrums, then a strike will surely be the nail in the coffin. Best book an apartment holiday rather than a hotel!

Tragic death of infant locked in car by father

In early June, a shocking and tragic death occurred when a 5 year-old boy was locked in a car for the entire day after his father, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Larnaca, rushed to hospital to care for a patient and forgot about his son locked inside.

Apparently, rather than take the child with him into the clinic as he had no time to drop him off at the kindergarten, he locked the child in the car and didn't remember until his wife phoned later in the day to ask why the child wasn't at school.

A postmortem on the child showed that he had a heart problem and that he had not died from heat exhaustion and dehydration due to being locked in the car in 30 degree heat. He was found with am empty bottle of water beside him and pathologists believe he was dead for six hours before he was found.

Taxi drivers blockade Paphos airport

There was fun and games at Paphos airport on June 12th when some of the taxi drivers decided to blockade the airport, parking several taxis horizontally across the road about 300m after the exit turning. Why? Who knows? Perhaps they were complaining about the recent system introduced to stop unscrupulous drivers ripping off tourists by overcharging - all bookings are now made at a ticket office inside the terminal where the passenger pays before getting inside the taxi.

Or maybe they were showing their distaste for other people picking up or dropping off relatives or friends at the airport. Whatever it was about, those of us in 4x4's managed to drive off-road along the rough tracks near the beach to get out. Meanwhile a long queue was forming. As my husband said to one of them "Do you really want to kill the tourist trade for good?" Only in Cyprus...

Helios crash trial focus on incompetent captain

The current trial taking place over the Helios plane crash which killed 119 people has focussed on the incompetency of the captain. Witnesses have related how he was "over confident" and failed to follow procedures or listen to advice from other crew members.

The state is trying to show that the captain, Hans-Jurgen Merten was incompetent, and that thus the airline is liable for employing him. The now-defunct Helios Airways and four of its top employees are on trial for “employing, and continuing to employ, unfit and inadequate pilots.” If found guilty, they face charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment which could mean a life sentence in prison.

That's all from our Cyprus Latest News MayJune10.

See you next time.

VILLAS| HOTELS| ONLINE TAXI BOOKINGS| CHEAP FLIGHTS| CAR HIRE