The 4th PHASE – VIP PHASE of the Multinational Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Exercise “ARGONAUT-2018” executed on Friday, the 25th of May 2018, within the Search and Rescue Region (SRR) of the Republic of Cyprus, which coincides with the Nicosia FIR.

The exercise scenario dealt with a passenger ship being seized by an armed group during the transportation of civilians from a State in crisis in the Middle East to Cyprus. Initially, the Special Antiterrorist Squad of the Cyprus Police in cooperation with the Cyprus Police Aviation Unit and the Port and Marine Police, carried out counter-terrorism operations, while the Special Disaster Response Unit of the Fire Service rescued entrapped persons immediately after the fire fighting operations of the VSS Vasiliko vessel. Also, rescue operations as well as MEDEVAC operations took place for the transportation of the injured persons to the nearest hospital, while anti-pollution operations were executed by the vessel of VTS Vasiliko and the aircraft of the Forestry Department.

Specifically, four (4) Air and ten (10) Naval Units participated in the VIP PHASE of the Exercise “ARGONAUT-2018”, under the operational control and coordination of the JRCC and the Cyprus Police.

Representatives of foreign states observed the actions of the 4th PHASE from the Frigate “ELLI” of the Hellenic Navy, as well as from the “ZENON” Coordination Center via live link from the exercise area South of Larnaca.

The National Guard, the Cyprus Police, the JRCC, the Forestry Department, the Civil Defence, the private companies EDT and VTS Vasiliko that participated in the exercise in cooperation with naval and air units of Greece, Great Britain, the USA, France and Italy, once more proved that the synergy that has developed is of high level as well as the preparedness to confront any emergency situation within the Nicosia FIR in case of crisis in the Middle East or during maritime activities.