The July 20, 1974 Attack Killed 33 People, Including 31 Patients and Two Nurses, With Three Turkish Cypriots Among the Dead

An archaeologist has detailed the grim discoveries made during 2017 excavations at Nicosia's Athalassa hospital, where victims of a 1974 Turkish Air Force bombing were hastily buried. Michalis Iacovides told the Cyprus News Agency that remains were found with glass shards embedded, one victim clutching a Serenace ampoule, and a female patient's red nylon dress intact. The July 20, 1974 attack killed 33 people, including 31 patients and two nurses, with three Turkish Cypriots among the dead.

The bombing lasted from 9am to 1.30pm, and a 500-pound bomb left a crater that swallowed nearly half of Ward 1. Excavations began in November 2017 after years of campaigning by the late Xenophon Kallis, supported by former Presidential Commissioner Photis Photiou. Iacovides said the earth still smelled of sulphur, and bodies were wrapped in brown woollen blankets and sheets before burial due to summer heat. The remains of ten individuals, possibly 11, were found in the crater.

The search expanded after a witness list named 31 victims, with six dying between July 23 and 25 and others as late as October, suggesting they succumbed to wounds later. Some were found with shards of glass embedded in their bodies. One was still clutching a Serenace medicine ampoule in his folded hand.

We recovered as many as 30 such ampoules. They were exactly as witnesses had described them – their bodies wrapped in blankets and sheets.