Man dead after stabbing outside pub in Limassol

A local bargoer was killed in a stabbing incident outside a pub in Limassol on Thursday morning, with local media suggesting a fight broke out over a financial dispute.

(Click here for an update to the story)

Local media said 44-year-old Marios Onisiforou was fatally wounded outside a pub in Ypsonas on Thursday early morning, just before 2am, after he was stabbed by another man.

Onisiforou and another man were at the pub according to local reports when a fight broke out between them and two other males, aged 49 and 54, over a financial dispute.

During a fight, understood to have taken place outside, the two men allegedly pulled out knives and stabbed Onisiforou as well as a 52-year-man.

A third individual, aged 42, sustained minor injuries in the incident with additional reports saying he was believed to have been the initial target in the financial dispute.

Onisiforou, a father of two, was rushed to the Emergency Room at Limassol General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, while his 52-year-old friend was hospitalized in serious condition with a stab wound in the neck.

Police have arrested the two men aged 49 and 54, both from Limassol district, with one of them said to be known to law enforcement authorities. Charges include murder and attempted murder according to local media.

The circumstances and any possible motive were not immediately clear. Police had yet to issue an incident report by the time this story was posted but a law enforcement official confirmed the two arrests.

Local media said the suspects had been looking for the male friend of the victims and tracked him down at the pub after he ran away previously. The two victims stepped outside when the suspects went to the pub and asked to attempt to resolve differences, reports said.

All men involved in the deadly incident were described as Greek Cypriots.