Cyprus radio mistakenly airs New Year message from ex-president

Cypriot state radio publicly apologized on Thursday for inadvertently broadcasting the opening remarks of a New Year's message from the country's former president in the place of a message by current President Nicos Anastasiades.

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), which runs both television and radio broadcasts, said in its apology that the mistake was realized within seconds early in the night of Dec. 31, 2013, and the transmission was halted.

CyBC said in a statement that the error was a "very serious" one and an inquiry was ordered to ascertain the cause.

CyBC sources dismissed allegations of foul play and said the erroneous message from former president Demetris Christofias was stopped within seconds. The message dated back to 2009.

The error was spotted by listeners who poked fun at CyBC on social networks.

According to CyBC sources, the message was broadcast by mistake because a radio presenter clicked on the wrong heading of an item. They said that the old message, which should have been removed a long time ago, was erroneously left on the broadcast computer.

Christofias did not contest re-election and was succeeded by Anastasiades who won the election in February 2013.