Emergency Numbers in Cyprus: Who to Call for What

In an emergency in Cyprus, call 112 or 199. Both numbers are free from any landline or mobile, and you can speak English. The call is answered by the police, who send an ambulance, a fire engine or a patrol car, or all three.

Below we list the numbers to save for fires, the sea, poisoning, domestic violence, children and mental health, plus the non-urgent police line, and explain what to say so help finds you quickly. All numbers were checked October 2026; save them in your phone today.

Which number do you call in an emergency in Cyprus?

112 is the European emergency number and works across the EU, including on a foreign mobile while roaming. 199 is the national Cypriot emergency number. Both reach the same place: the Message Control Centres at district police headquarters, where police officers take the call and pass it to the ambulance service or the fire service.

The system is busy. In 2025 it received more than 1,200 calls a day, many of them not emergencies, with around ten officers answering across the island at any time. Use 112 only when someone's life, health, safety or property is at risk now, so the line stays free for people who need it.

What should you say when you call 112?

The State Health Services Organisation (OKYPY) asks callers to have these details ready:

1. Where you are: the district, the town or village, the street and the house or building number.
2. A phone number they can call you back on.
3. What has happened, for example a car crash, a fall, chest pain, a fire.
4. How many people need help.
5. Any other danger, such as fire, a gas smell, fallen power cables or traffic.

Then stay on the line and follow the instructions you are given. Do not hang up until the operator tells you to.

Giving your location in Cyprus. Many village and rural roads have no clear name, and the same street name can exist in several places. To help:

• Always start with the district and town or village (for example "Paphos district, Tala"), not just the street.
• Add a landmark: a church, kiosk, school, petrol station, supermarket or roundabout.
• In the countryside or on the coast, open your phone's map app and read out your GPS coordinates. Our tip: practise finding them now, before you need them.
• On a motorway, give the direction you are driving (for example "Limassol to Nicosia") and the nearest exit or junction.
• If you can, send someone to the road to wave the ambulance in, and switch on outside lights at night.

If you do not speak Greek and the line is noisy, speak slowly and repeat the place name. Spell it if needed: the same village can be written several ways in English.

What is the non-emergency police number?

For a crime that is not happening now, a complaint or a general police matter, call 1460, the police Citizens' Communication Line. It is free. You can also go to your nearest police station to report a crime in person.

Other police lines listed by the national telecoms provider, Cyta:

• 1499: police duty officer.
• 1443: British Sovereign Base Areas police, if you live in or near Akrotiri, Episkopi or Dhekelia.

How do you report a fire?

For a fire at a home, car or building, call 112. For smoke or flames in forest, scrubland or fields, call 1407, the Department of Forests line, or 112. The Forestry Department asks anyone who sees smoke to call straight away, even if they think someone else already has: a few minutes can make the difference in summer.

When you call, say where the smoke is, which way it is moving, what is burning if you can see, and how to get there. Then move away, upwind and downhill if possible. For fire risk days, rules on burning and what to do in a heatwave, see our summer survival guide and our guide to weather warnings in Cyprus.

Who do you call for an emergency at sea?

Call 112 or 1441, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) at Larnaca, which coordinates search and rescue at sea and in the air around Cyprus and is staffed 24 hours a day. If you are on a boat with a VHF radio, use channel 16. Visit Cyprus also lists the Marine Police on 25 805350 for boat emergencies.

Tell them your position (GPS coordinates if you have them), how many people are involved, what has happened and a description of the boat or person in the water. If you see a swimmer in trouble from the beach, alert the lifeguard first if there is one, then call 112. For safe swimming, see our guide to winter sea swimming and our boat trips guide.

Who do you call after a road accident or breakdown?

• Anyone hurt, or the road blocked: call 112 or 199. The police come and send an ambulance or fire service if needed.
• Damage only, nobody hurt: call your insurer. Call the police too if the damage is serious, you think a driving offence was committed or the road is blocked.
• Breakdown: there is no single national breakdown number. Check your car insurance documents: some insurers run a 24-hour roadside assistance line for towing, flat tyres, jump starts and help at the scene of an accident, but whether you have it depends on your policy. Save that number in your phone. In a rental car, call the rental company.

Our guide to car insurance in Cyprus covers roadside assistance and what to check in your policy, and driving in the rainy season covers flooded roads.

What if someone may have been poisoned?

If the person is unconscious, has trouble breathing, is having a fit or has swallowed something corrosive, call 112 straight away.

Cyta lists 1401 for the Drug Information and Poison Control Centre. We could not confirm its current opening hours, and it has historically worked as an advice line during office hours rather than an emergency service. For anything serious, call 112 or go to A&E, and take the packet, bottle or plant with you.

Where can you get help for domestic violence or a child at risk?

If you or a child are in danger right now, call 112. The 1440 line received 5,728 calls in 2025, so you are not alone in calling it, and it can help you think through options even if you are not ready to go to the police.

Who can you call in a mental health crisis?

• In immediate danger (someone has taken an overdose, is injured or is about to harm themselves): call 112 or go to the A&E of the nearest public hospital.
• To talk to someone: Cyprus Samaritans, freephone 8000 7773, every day from 16:00 to 24:00, in English, Greek and German. They cannot speak to callers under 18; young people can use 1466 or 116 111.
• Drugs and addiction: Cyta lists 1410 as the drugs helpline, in Greek and English.

Our guide to mental health support in Cyprus explains how to see a GESY psychologist or find a private therapist.

What about a doctor or pharmacy out of hours?

For illness that is urgent but not life-threatening, see our guide to out-of-hours doctors and night pharmacies. In short: GESY beneficiaries call 17000 for the weekend and holiday on-call GP, and 11892 tells you which pharmacy is open tonight.

Who do you call for problems at home?

• Power cut or electrical fault: EAC on 1800. For bills and your account, 1818.
• Water leak in the street or no water: your district's water organisation (EOA) or community council.
• Gas smell from an LPG cylinder or tank: if it is strong, get everyone out and call 112 from outside.

Our guide to power cuts, water leaks and gas smells at home explains what to check first and who to call. For problems with a shop, service or contract that are not emergencies, see how to make a consumer complaint in Cyprus.

What to do next

1. Save 112, 22 887171, 1407, 1441, 1440, 1460, 1800 and 8000 7773 in your phone now, plus your insurer's roadside number.
2. Practise finding your GPS coordinates in your phone's map app, and write your full address, with district and a landmark, on a note by the door for visitors and babysitters.
3. Read our health and safety tips for life in Cyprus and our out-of-hours doctors guide.
4. Before summer, read our summer survival guide on heat, power cuts and wildfires.
5. Know who to call at home: see power cuts, water leaks and gas smells.