The Mari explosion stands as a watershed moment, often cited as an example of criminal state mismanagement.
However, both before and after Mari, there have been many similar cases where citizens were left exposed, their lives hanging in the balance. One such case is the operation of the Astrasol factory in a residential area. After numerous cancer cases, deaths, and desperation – and with authorities refusing to take action to close the factory – local residents turned to the courts, which vindicated them with what was considered a landmark ruling. By then, over 50 people had died from cancer, with just as many falling ill.
The residents’ sense of justice proved short-lived. The Attorney General’s office appealed the court decision, which had condemned both the company and the Republic of Cyprus and mandated compensation for each victim. The Supreme Court then reduced the liability to mere nuisance, absolving both state and company of any obligation. While acknowledging the increased cancer incidents in the area and that the materials used in the factory were known carcinogens, the Supreme Court found no “causal connection”. In other words, the relatives would have had to scientifically prove the cause of each cancer case individually. The fact that dichloromethane, used by the factory, is listed in international studies as a carcinogenic substance was deemed insufficient.
Just when citizens think they’ve managed to challenge the system and find justice, they realise it’s not that simple. People fought for years. The initial court decision came in 2017. The Supreme Court ruling followed in 2022, and it took until 2025 for the hazardous chemical waste to be removed from the defunct factory site.
These materials are classified as hazardous chemical waste by the Director of the Environmental Department, who’s coordinating their removal. To enable the removal, cleaning, and waste management, the project has been assigned to private specialists, and security measures have been implemented. The site is even under 24-hour guard until the work is completed. In other words, it’s accepted that these materials are dangerous. How much more so when gases from their processing were released through chimneys into the atmosphere, with neighbours breathing them in for years?
Mari killed 13 people. In the Astrasol neighbourhood, over 50 people died from cancer. Takata airbags killed two people. Yet no lesson seems to be enough.