Cyprus villagers raise safety concerns after mishap at British air base

The residents of a small Cyprus village next to one of the most active NATO air bases raised safety concerns Thursday after two missiles fell off a British warplane as it was landing at a nearby runway.

The leader of Akrotiri community Giorgos Stylianou said the local council has decided to raise the issue with the administrator of the base.

"We want to bring to their attention the security issue arising from fighter planes flying over our village," Stylianou said.

The community council had in the past addressed a 4-page letter both to the base authorities and to Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades, detailing the residents' worries.

Akrotiri lies less than one km from the end of the runway of a British base of the same name, which is used by Tornado planes for operations against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Two Brimstone air-to-surface missiles became detached from a Tornado and fell on the tarmac as it was landing on Wednesday morning.

Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers called from Britain used explosive charges to destroy the missiles as they had decided it was too dangerous to try to move them.

According to British press reports, the missiles, which cost 150,000 euros (164,250 U.S. dollars) each, broke up into pieces, but there was no detonation.

"We heard two very loud explosions in the morning. We had been notified that the rockets would be destroyed on site with explosives," Stylianou said.

He said the population of less than 1,000 people suffer daily from what one resident described as the unbearable noise of fighter planes taking off "twice a day, every day."

He said the population of the village is worried about possible accidents as the planes fly directly over their houses as they come in for landing.

"Imagine if those missiles had fallen on our village," 60-year-old resident Christakis Evelthontos told a local newspaper.

A spokesman at Akrotiri base said the detachment of the missiles may have been caused by "a heavy landing" during poor visibility, but British media raised questions about the safety of the ageing Tornados.

The planes were commissioned during the Gulf War in 1991 and are due to be discontinued in 2019.

Akrotiri air base is one of two sovereign base areas Britain, the island's former colonial ruler, retained on Cyprus when it granted independence to the eastern Mediterranean island in 1960.

The base hosts eight Tornados that take part in bombing sorties against fighters of the Islamic State. It is also used for providing air support to NATO operations in the Middle and Near East regions. It was widely used in operations against the forces of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and also in providing logistics support to NATO forces in Afghanistan.