Tragedy at the British Dhekelia base: two Bulgarian children found dead in a locked car

On the evening of Sunday, 28 June 2026, a tragedy occurred on the territory of the British Sovereign Base of Dhekelia in Cyprus. Two children aged 8 and 10 were found unconscious inside a locked passenger car parked on a vacant lot near a residential house in the village of Xylofagou. Paramedics who arrived at the scene pronounced the minors dead; according to preliminary findings by forensic experts, the cause of death was suffocation (asphyxia) amid extreme heat exposure and severe sunburn. By the time of examination, signs of rigor mortis had already appeared on the bodies of the deceased.

According to the investigation materials and information from the local community leader, Georgios Giulianou, the brother and sister had arrived in Cyprus from Bulgaria to spend their summer school holidays with their father. On the morning of the tragedy, the father and his wife (the children’s stepmother) left for work. It is believed that the unattended children got into the car on their own, after which the vehicle’s doors locked, cutting off their path to escape in the summer heat.

The police of the British Sovereign Bases immediately cordoned off the scene to collect physical evidence and question witnesses. That same evening, the father and stepmother of the deceased children were formally arrested on reasonable suspicion of criminal negligence and abandonment of minors in danger, resulting in death. Investigative actions are continuing to reconstruct the chronology of the tragic incident minute by minute.