The sinking of Patrol Boat "Phaethon": 54 years later crew members' remains return to Greece

In Cyprus, Greek Deputy Minister of National Defense, Dimitris Vitsas, was present to attend an official ceremony at the cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen, in Nicosia.

Last May, the remains of sailor Nicholas Niafas were handed over to relatives.

On Tuesday, the remains of the ensign Panagiotis Chrysoulis, Petty Officers first class Spyridon Agathos and Nicholas Panagou and the sailors, Panayiotis Theodoratos and Nikolaos Kapaloukas will be delivered. Among the survivors is the captain of "Phaethon", Sub Lieutenant in 1964 Dimitrios Mitsatsos, who lost his right hand.

The remains of reserve warrant officer Vasilis Koukousoulis, who was killed in Pachyammos Tyllirias, in August 1964, and Colonel Athanasios Fotopoulos, who was killed during the Turkish invasion in July 1974, were also handed over.

President of the Republic of Cyprus, Anastasiades, was represented by the Commissioner of the Presidency, Fotis Photios, at the ceremony. At the ceremony, relatives of the fallen, from Greece were invited and attended.

After the end of the ceremony and by decision of the family, the remains of Colonel Fotopoulos Athanasios were interred in the cemetery of Saints Constantine and Helen along with the remains of reserve warrant officer Vasilis Koukousoulis, that were found and identified through DNA sampling of bones.

The remains of the five Phaethon fallen were be transported to Greece on a special flight by a C-27 Hellenic Air Force transport plane.

Patrol Boat "Phaethon"
The patrol boat had a crew of 23 members. Seven of the crew lost their lives, six from Greece and a Cypriot volunteer, Antis Filatas from Morphou in 1964, in Xero Bay, when the Turkish air force hit the ship with napalm bombs.

The shocking testimony of the captain of "Phaethon"

The story of patrol boat "Phaethon" has been told by her captain. The excerpt is from the text by ret. Vice Admiral, Sifis Manousogiannakis.

The first combat mission was undertaken by the Cyprus Navy on August 7, 1964 when the patrol boats "Arion" and "Phaethon" were ordered to support with naval bombardment companies of the National Guard against the Turkish Cypriots in Mansoura-Kokkinoi area. The following day, a Turkish Air Force attack took place throughout the area of ​​Tillyrias.

Dimitrios Mitsatsos

As the captain of "Phaethon," then Sub Lieutenant in 1964, Dimitrios Mitsatsos relates: "the planes came and began attacking ...... The battle lasted a long time ...... .We shot one plane down and hit another ......... the boat was not turning, Ilooked at the wheelhouse and saw that the helmsman had been killed ...... nobody saw a plane that was coming very close to the waterq it fired a burst and killed Officer Designate P.Chrysoulis, the medic, and a Cypriot ...... .Someone else was wounded, the bullets passed through my arm .......... I threw it on the beach and ordered abandon ship ...... .From the 23 inside the ship two NCOs and four sailors, along with a Cypriot were killed... ..
People jumped into the water to swim under the jetty, but the planes continued the attacks on the shipwreck at sea. We finally got out. I told the crew to find a car to take us to a hospital. We went. The Turks burned the ship with napalm bombs, and many people on the beaches there, and the dock "Xeros". Of the 23 onboard, two non-commissioned officers, four sailors and the Cypriot were killed. I am the only surviving officer who is disabled with my right hand cut off."