Local nun dies after car plunges off cliff

A local nun was killed in a road accident on Wednesday and her biological sister was critically wounded after their vehicle veered off the road and plunged off a cliff in rural Nicosia.

Local media said 72-year-old local nun Anna Kalyvitou, who went by her religious name Vasilia, was killed instantly on Wednesday afternoon, after 3:30pm, when her car veered off the Kalopanagiotis-Gerakies road in rural Nicosia and plunged off a cliff over 100 metres deep.

Fire fighters and emergency rescue workers who rushed to the scene had to wait for a helicopter before a rescue and recovery operation could take place, with some reports saying the two nuns, sisters by blood, were pulled out of the vehicle two hours later. Strong winds caused further delays during the operation, according to local reports.

The two Kykkos Monastery nuns were airlifted to the Emergency Room at Nicosia General Hospital where doctors on duty pronounced Vasilia dead on arrival. Her 70-year-old sister, Aliki Kalyvitou known as Makrynia, was hospitalized in critical condition.

The circumstances of the accident were not immediately clear.

 Σε ένα ακόμη δύσκολο περιστατικό κλήθηκε να ανταποκριθεί η Αστυνομία (ΜΑΕΠ), το οποίο αφορούσε διάσωση γυναίκας μετά από τροχαίο δυστύχημα. Δυστυχώς συνεπεία του τροχαίου, μια γυναίκα έχασε τη ζωή της, ενώ δεύτερη τραυματίστηκε. Ευχόμαστε στην τραυματία γρήγορη ανάρρωση. #Cyprus pic.twitter.com/RhJe5k5R3l

— Αστυνομία Κύπρου (@Cyprus_Police) August 22, 2019