3,5 km from Apostolos Andreas is the lighthouse on the island of Klides, which was taken care of by Nikos Hampi before the Invasion.
"Since '61, June '61, when I was appointed to the lighthouse. "When the invasion took place, I was at the lighthouse."
As the lighthouse tells us, it saved him from captivity during the invasion, as the Turks wanted it to remain in operation.
"I saved her with binoculars. Are they shouting at me for what purpose? I cry to them, I have the lighthouse on the island, as soon as the sun goes down, if it does not light, I grab my boat and save it. He cries for me, if you leave the lighthouse, yes, it will go out, the chief officer will play you, yes, I will spend your gums, yes, the pope. ”
Nikos Hampi trained a Turkish Cypriot, Mustafa, to operate the lighthouse.
"They come one night at midnight, they knock on my door, I shout who he is, the police shout at me, I shout at them what you want, they shout at me, the lighthouse went out and you went to light it."
It seems that the new lighthouse keeper had wrongly fastened the cylinders with the acetylene, which gave energy to the lamp.
"We catch my boat all the way to the lighthouse, it was not very far 3 miles from Apostolos Andreas, where we had the boat, 3,5 kilometers to go to find the island, yes, we boasted as Jiame that we caught the Boyazia. Bogazia is where three seas meet north, east yes south there were some waves so big I turned the boat yes it was high up jia evuttan. Mr. Nikos, turn back, yes, we will drown, we will drown. Don't worry, I'm crying for them this year, we have little place left to go. "
Nikos managed to repair the lighthouse, the next day, when they brought new cylinders. As he explains to us, it was very difficult to transport them.
"We took them by boat four roads, it made them go, it was boring things, the cylinders are so thin and so far away, so straight with me. In order to throw them on the lighthouse, the mud had to be four people. ”
He left Rizokarpaso in 1977 and worked at the Paphos lighthouse until he retired. He returned to Karpasia again. Mustafa was still taking care of the lighthouse.
"I saw the one far away, the Apostle Andreas."
Source: Alphanews / Maria Tsangari