Nicosia, Jan 3 (IANS): Cypriot state radio publicly apologised for inadvertently broadcasting the opening remarks of a New Year's message from the country's former president instead of current President Nicos Anastasiades.

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) said the message - broadcasted Dec 31, 2013 - was a mistake and the transmission was halted within seconds of realising the fault, Xinhua reported Thursday.

The statement said 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.