A 27-year-old Nigerian man identified as Stanley, d!ed after a part of a four-storey building collapsed in Limassol, Cyprus.
The incident occurred around 1:30pm on Easter Saturday, April 11, 2026 on Aeschylou Street in Germasogeia, shortly after Stanley returned home from a morning run.
The building was home to residents of African and Egyptian origin, while some of those inside managed to get out in time and others were away when the collapse happened, according to testimonies.
Witnesses said the block had a total of eight or nine flats, with at least four people living in each, raising concern over the exact number of residents who may have been in the building.
Residents in the area said they heard a loud noise, but at first thought it was explosions from Easter bonfires linked to the Resurrection celebrations.
The tenants themselves had said the apartment block had been deemed unfit, according to the same accounts.
The incident triggered a large-scale emergency response involving firefighters, police, EMAK and civil defence units.
The first body was recovered at around 17:30, with a second recovered hours later.
Three injured people were taken to hospital and are out of danger.
The building mainly housed foreign residents, with preliminary estimates suggesting around 20 people lived in its 10 to 11 apartments.
Rescue dogs are also assisted in the search operation.
Joanna Yiorkatzi, a friend of Stanley, also known as Dex, described the “appalling” living conditions at the property, claiming that the landlord ignored repeated warnings about the structure’s safety.
Yiorkatzi, who may have been the last person to speak to Stanley, told journalists that the apartment had holes in the ceiling with exposed metal bars hanging over the living area.
“I asked him, ‘My God, how do you live like this?’ and he replied, ‘When you are black in this country, this is how they treat you,’” Yiorkatzi said.
According to Yiorkatzi, Stanley and his roommates had informed the landlord that the ceiling was falling in and that the flat had no electricity, forcing them to use candles.
Despite these conditions, she noted that Stanley, who worked for a solar panel company and was in Cyprus legally, always paid his rent on time.
“The pair had been friends for over two years, meeting through a marathon running club.
Yiorkatzi had picked him up for their weekly run on Saturday morning and dropped him home at approximately 1:00 p.m., just minutes before the tragedy.
“Ten minutes passed and he sent me a message thanking me for the lift. Then the disaster happened,” she said. “I kept calling him, but he didn’t answer.”
He also claimed that one of the survivors, Raphael, told her Stanley d!ed because he stayed behind to help others escape instead of fleeing immediately.
Stanley moved to Cyprus to seek a better future and was financially supporting his mother and six siblings in Nigeria.
“It is very tragic that these people come to our country for a better future and experience all of this,” Yiorkatzi said. “We are all human; I have nothing else to say.”
