RELIGION

Funeral service held for 2 of Cyprus killer's 7 victims

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A relative mourns over the coffins of Livia Florentian Bunea, 36, from Romania and her eight year-old daughter Elena Natalia at a church in the village of Arediou southwest of Cyprus' capital Nicosia on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The mother and daughter are believed to be the first victims of a serial killer _ a 35 year-old Cypriot army captain _ who confessed to investigators of killing seven foreign women and girls over a 2 and a half year span. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

Greek Orthodox Christian clergymen preside over the funeral of Livia Florentian Bunea, 36, from Romania and her eight year-old daughter Elena Natalia at a church in the village of Arediou, southwest of Cyprus' capital Nicosia on Thursday, June 13, 2019. The mother and daughter are believed to be the first victims of a serial killer _ a 35 year-old Cypriot army captain _ who confessed to investigators of killing seven foreign women and girls over a 2 ½ year span. (AP Photo/Philippos Christou)

Senior Greek Orthodox priests have presided at the funeral service of a mother and daughter who were among the seven people a military officer confessed to killing in Cyprus.

The service for 36-year-old Livia Florentina Bunea and her 8-year-old daughter, Elena Natalia Bunea, was the first for any of the victims - five foreign women and two girls.

Relatives at Thursday's service for the Romanian mother and child wept as two coffins were placed side by side in a village church southwest of Cyprus' capital.

The Mediterranean island nation's police and fire chiefs also attended, along with some of the divers who searched for bodies after the army officer's confessed to the serial killings.

A seventh body was retrieved Wednesday from a lake at a disused mine where others were recovered.