The Cyprus Scouts Association has defended Saturday’s hike during which 21 of their members went missing in the Troodos mountains, requiring a massive all night police operation to bring them to safety.
In an announcement, the association said that an initial investigation had found that all internal procedures had been adhered to and the scout leaders had had the required training.
“The fact that both the children and the scout leaders were exposed to adverse conditions for more than 12 hours with temperatures below zero and managed to cope without frost bite or even a single incident of panic shows the high level of training and readiness to deal with such conditions,” it said.
According to the announcement, the scout leaders had walked the specific nature trail 15 days earlier, and revisited the trail on Wednesday — three days before the hike.
The rock slide which prevented them from moving forward must have occurred in the past two days and was at the last stage of trail, the association..
All the children are in good health and after medical tests at Larnaca and Kyperounda hospitals are back with their families.
The association thanked the parents for their cooperation and trust in the scout leaders as well as the authorities for their rescue operation.