Drunk passenger steals car at Paphos airport and gets into crash

At Paphos airport, a 44-year-old man took someone else’s car from the parking lot and tried to flee, but was involved in an accident several hundred metres later. Police officers detained him outside the airport building, Cyprus police reported.

According to police, the man was denied boarding at around 1:30 p.m. after staff decided that he was under the influence of alcohol. He then headed to the airport parking lot.

There, he got behind the wheel of a rental car with a woman inside — her husband had stepped away from the vehicle at that moment. The man pulled away abruptly and drove out of the airport grounds.

At a roundabout near the airport, the stolen car collided with another vehicle. The driver did not stop and continued driving, while the other party involved in the accident followed and reported his movements to the police.

Several hundred metres later, the man lost control and crashed into a metal barrier near the airport. Police officers who arrived at the scene detained him. The detainee is accused of stealing a vehicle, damaging another person’s property and driving under the influence; the circumstances of the incident are being investigated.