Cyprus-Forum.com

[Agios Amvrosios]

Cyprus Airways still silent over

death of van der Meer's dog

THIRTEEN days after the event Cyprus Airways was still conducting an investigation yesterday into the death by heatstroke of the pet dog of Adriaan van der Meer, the former EU ambassador to Cyprus, which was left in his cage in the sun with other pieces of luggage awaiting loading on a plane.

Van der Meer was furious over the loss of his pet, a prize-winning pedigree Golden Retriever.

He complained of ``gross incompetence and negligence'' on the part of the airline.'' In a letter to the government and to the airline he requested that ``Cyprus Airways immediately stops the transport of live animals and starts to review its procedures and facilities.''

In the letter, he explained that he had booked a passage for his dog as accompanied luggage. But being left on the hot tarmac in the sun the dog suffered a heat stroke. When this was discovered just before the cage was loaded on the plane there was no vet at the airport to take care of him. He was taken to a veterinary clinic but died five days later to the distress of Mrs van der Meer who cancelled her flight with her husband and stayed in Cyprus to be with the dog.

Van der Meer said in his letter that his wife was ``under medical care because of the traumatic experience.''

``We hope that no other animal or animal lover will have to suffer such a traumatic experience again when travelling on Cyprus Airways,'' he said.

Cyprus Airways expressed regret over the incident. It said it had transported hundreds of dogs without incident and would carry out a full investigation to find out what went wrong.