The mystery behind the tremors and loud noises recorded in Paphos and Episkopi remains unsolved, with Cyprus’ seismological centre saying the phenomena could be attributed to an atmospheric disturbance.
Residents on the island’s west coasts had been shaken by earthquake-like tremors, which were initially mistaken for an earthquake.
Reports of a possible earthquake in Paphos on Tuesday were quickly dismissed by officials, who said their instruments picked up no seismic activity despite residents saying they heard a noise shaking their windows.
However, the Cyprus Geological Survey department confirmed picking up slight tremors at 5:45:31 pm in Paphos and the second one at 5:46:25 pm in Episkopi. Both tremors lasted 10 seconds each.
Some news reports attributed the tremors and noises to British hypersonic fighter jets returning to the British Bases in Limassol.
According to Sigma TV, four British fighter jets returned to base at RAF Akrotiri after patrolling skies as a NATO response to the war in Ukraine.
Sigma reporter Marios Ignatiou had attributed the noise to the Eurofighter Typhoons.
This was dismissed by the British Bases Wednesday, which said that “no UK military aircraft” had been flying in the vicinity of Paphos at that time.
The incident comes amid the war in Ukraine and reports that Russia had earlier last month deployed hypersonic missiles to destroy a Ukrainian military underground depot containing missiles and aviation ammunition.
Residents of Paphos and Limassol had initially thought the tremors were a product of an earthquake, as the island is prone to them.
The last quake, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, shook Cyprus in early February. It was the third quake to be recorded in less than a month.
It is believed to be an aftershock of the first quake, which struck on 11 January, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale in the same area.
The 6.5 magnitude quake was one of Cyprus’ strongest quakes ever recorded.
It was the biggest earthquake to shake the island since a 6.5 on the Richter scale quake struck Paphos in October 1996, when two people died – the strongest in the previous 100 years.
Another tremor in the same location on 28 January measured 4.5.
