A fireman who was the only survivor of a fire truck accident during the Solea forest fires is still feeding his family on donations from his colleagues as his sick leave pay has yet to come through.
Father-of-four Giorgos Siambtanis, 51, has been released from hospital but is still recovering from home after a fire truck he and two others had been travelling in went off a road and overturned while they were battling the recent forest fires in Solea.
The Labour Inspection Department, police and Forestry Department are all carrying out their own investigations into the accident that saw Marios Aristotelous and Andreas Sophocleous lose their lives when the fire engine they were travelling in overturned into a ravine.
Siambtanis was able to call for help with his mobile phone, later saying: “One of my colleagues was already dead beside me and the other was asking for help…It is only by the grace of God that I am alive today”.
He has been left with pelvis, neck and arm injuries and continues to have nightmares about the accident and remains unclear whether he will ever be able to return to regular duties as an on-call fireman, a post he had held for a decade before the accident.
When Siambtanis was not paid his July salary, his colleagues raised €700 amongst themselves to help him and his family cover their expenses.
The same appears to have occurred for his August pay.
At the end of July, Forestry Department Director Takis Tsintides had told reporters he had not been aware of the delay and noted the Social Insurance Department was responsible for paying salaries for a specific time period while a worker was on sick leave.
Tsintides revealed Agriculture Minister Nicos Kouyialis had stepped in and given orders for some of the procedures to be sped up. But, at the start of September, Siambtanis is still waiting.
Tsintides also said that there was no question of Siambtanis not getting his money or losing his job. He said Siambtanis would be assigned suitable duties once he was well enough to return to work.
It is understood that two other fire-fighters – also injured in the line of duty while fighting the Solea blaze – would also be guaranteed a suitable position at work place once they recovered.
Beginning on June 19 and raging for days before being finally brought under control, the Troodos fires resulted in 18.5 square kilometres being destroyed by the flames.