§ Mr. Ripponasked the Secretary of State for War what were the circumstances in which 19 British soldiers died and 18 were badly injured in a forest fire in the Troodos range in Cyprus on Sunday, 17th June; what steps were taken to ensure that the fact that casualties had occurred was not announced without stating that the next of kin had been informed in order to allay the anxieties of all those with relatives serving in Cyprus; and whether he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. HeadI am not yet able to give more details about this fire than are contained in my Written Answer of 25th June to the hon and learned Member for Aberdeen, North (Mr. Hector Hughes).
It is our object, whenever possible, to inform next of kin of casualties before the news of an accident appears in the Press. It is, however, frequently impracticable in a serious major incident such as the fire in Cyprus to withhold information until all the casualties have been identified and next of kin informed. In such cases it is our practice to issue a short factual statement giving the number of casualties so that the magnitude of the incident is accurately known. When the forest fire in Cyprus occurred, newspaper correspondents immediately reported it and in order to ensure accuracy the following official statement was issued on 18th June:
The military authorities deeply regret to announce that 19 British Servicemen lost their lives yesterday in lighting the forest fire in the Troodos area. Eighteen others were injured and are in hospital. The casualties were caused by a sudden and erratic change of wind which blew the fire at high speed towards the troops. Some of the casualties were caused by exploding petrol tanks of vehicles caught by the fire. The next of kin of all casualties are being informed as quickly as possible. There were no civilian casualties.Next of kin having been notified, casualties were released to the Press 24 hours later. An emergency regulation is now in force in Cyprus which decrees that names, ranks and units of all British casualties will be withheld for 24 hours to enable next of kin to be informed and I do not consider that further restrictions are practicable.