Demolition of illegal hotel in Lapithos to facilitate search for missing persons

Archaeologists and the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) are overseeing the demolition of an unfinished hotel in the occupied town of Lapithos. The site has become a focus of investigation after a former construction worker testified that human remains were discovered at the location during the building's initial construction in the late 1980s. According to Leonidas Pantelidis, the Greek Cypriot representative to the CMP, the original contractor ordered workers to cover the remains and continue construction, despite attempts to intervene. Financial difficulties later halted the project, and the building eventually changed owners.

The current owner has cooperated with the CMP, allowing experts to monitor the demolition process to search for further evidence of graves. This effort is part of a broader, ongoing challenge in the occupied territories, where rapid and often illegal urban development threatens to destroy potential burial sites of missing persons. While the first phase of excavation at the Lapithos site has resulted in the discovery of two individuals, work continues. Similar large-scale excavations are also being conducted in Exo Metochi, where reports suggest the potential burial of four to six additional Greek Cypriots.