AN ELECTRICITY Authority of Cyprus (EAC) machine operator who risked his life to save an amateur fisherman from drowning a month ago was yesterday awarded in Parliament for his valour and altruism.
The modest ceremony took place in the House President’s office, on the initiative of the Friends of Police association, to honour Stelios Stylianou, a 48-year-old father of three who saved the life of Giorgos Georgiou on the morning of March 16.
Stelios Stylianou was working his shift on the Saturday morning at the EAC’s Vassilikos power station in Mari when, at around 11.30am his shift manager, Christos Paparistodemou, rushed in the control room saying he had received word that a man was in trouble in the stormy waters, unable to get to safety. It was a windy day and the sea was choppy, Stylianou told the Cyprus Mail during a telephone interview yesterday.
The fisherman, Giorgos Georgiou, was spotted by a worker at the nearby desalination plant who called the shift manager at Vassilikos to inform him. Stylianou remembers his shift manager saying: “We can’t let this man die”.
“I’ve been swimming in the sea every evening for about a year and a half now for three hours every day. I believed I had the strength to take this man out of there,” Stylianou said.
After the event, there was criticism by some about a family-man risking his life, and about him being allowed to jump in the choppy waters before official help had arrived.
But at the time and later in retrospect Stylianou said it was an acceptable risk given his daily swimming routine and his ease in the water.
Decision made to go in himself and not wait for help to arrive, Stylianou ran to the beach and stripped to his underwear. Spotting the fisherman some 300m or 400m off the shore and judging from his lack of movement that he needed to get to him as soon as possible, Stylianou did not wait for the gates to the fenced-off beach to open, but jumped over it.
“I didn’t even feel the cold, I was pumped with adrenaline,” Stylianou said.
As Stylianou tried to reach the fisherman, people were trying to get through to authorities and get help. The Vassilikos power station had its own ambulance waiting for them, with a trained member of staff. Georgiou – the fisherman – had been in the water for over three hours by that time, and Stylianou remembered his orders to keep the man awake at all costs.
While in the water, with Stylianou dragging him to safety, Georgiou’s speech was distorted but he had enough strength to plead with Stylianou to keep moving. According to the met office, sea temperatures of 16-17 degrees Celsius is low enough to pose a risk after a few hours because water conducts heat away from the body faster than air does.
Georgiou later told his saviour that he had been ready to give up “and sink to the bottom of the sea”. Although a strong swimmer himself, Georgiou’s fishing boat had capsized too fast and despite his efforts, he could not take off his heavy clothing, which had weighed him down further as he tried to swim to shore. As a thank you, Georgiou later gave Stylianou a crucifix which was handed down to him by his mother
The media – engrossed in unfolding drama over a Cyprus bailout deal and deposits’ haircuts on March 16 – missed the story altogether with the exception of daily Haravghi, which reported it around a week after the event.
“I was just happy with what I did,” Stylianou said, adding that he was happy to get a mention from his shift manager that will go on his permanent record, and to be congratulated by the police.
After a few weeks, when the commotion with the bailout that had kept everyone so fixated on other news subsided, the Friends of Police proposed an award ceremony. Yesterday EAC and police brass awarded Stylianou for his valour in the presence of his family and of Georgiou whose life he saved.
“As long as there are people like Mr Stylianou, then despite the country’s difficulties there is hope that we will recover, that not everything is lost,” said House President Yiannakis Omirou.
“The dignity, selflessness and humanity that characterises our people have been subject to no haircut and no cutbacks,” he added.
Stelios Stylianou (centre) with his youngest child and the rest of his family yesterday. The man he saved is on his right