A Turkish deep-sea search and rescue vessel is on its way to Cyprus as Turkey joins efforts to retrieve the 20 people still missing after a passenger ferry capsized off the island's northern coast. The TCG Isin will join the vast operation to find survivors after the high-speed ferry sank on Sunday barely four nautical miles outside the port town of Kyrenia.
Death toll rises to eight
Authorities confirmed late on Monday – the first of three days of national mourning in Turkish-held northern Cyprus – that the tragedy had claimed eight lives, increasing the number of passengers still unaccounted for from 17 to 20. A total of 241 of the 267 people aboard the Filo Jet, bound for Taşucu on the Turkish mainland when it began to take on water, had been rescued, they said. Almost all were either Turkish or Turkish Cypriot.
International sympathy for the victims was highlighted as the Anglo-Cypriot founder of easyJet, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, offered €260,000 (£223,000) in support for the families of the deceased and missing, in a move hailed by Turkish Cypriot officials.
Search efforts continue around the clock
Visiting Kyrenia's new port, where relatives gathered for news of loved ones on Monday, Tufan Erhürman, the self-styled state's president, vowed search efforts would “continue with the same intensity, with no interruption, through the day and night”. The Isin, capable of searching up to 3,000 metres below the sea surface, was due to arrive on Tuesday, he said, as he comforted the families of those still missing.
The ship is expected to play a vital role in recovering the ferry's voyage data recorder, or black box, now viewed as key in deciphering the cause of a maritime disaster not seen since the breakaway territory declared independence in 1983. Turkish Cypriot officials told the Guardian it was likely “all those responsible” would be charged with gross negligence as the seaworthiness of the 26-year-old ferry was also questioned. The owners and shareholders of the privately owned company operating the passenger vessel have also been ordered to appear in court.
Eyewitness accounts contradict official version
It remained unclear whether those still missing had been trapped on board. “Nobody is saying it publicly, but the hope of any survivors being found at this point is very slim,” one official confided. “Those who weren't rescued very likely didn't find a lifejacket. We believe many were elderly people and mothers with babies and young kids.”
In testimony – and video footage – that emerged on Monday, panic-stricken passengers could be seen desperately looking for lifejackets and screaming before the double-hulled ferry flipped over. One mother, Ayten Bice, described feeling her 12-year-old daughter slip from her hands and disappear as the ferry capsized and sank in a matter of minutes. “She was saying, 'Don't let go.' And I didn't let go of my daughter. I swear, I didn't let her go,” she sobbed. Two of Bice's other children are among the 20 still missing.
The captain of the ferry and seven crew members were detained on Monday as judicial authorities launched an inquiry into the tragedy amid claims they had been among the first to abandon ship. Appearing before a local magistrate, the crew attributed the disaster to the bow of the catamaran-style ferry breaking apart in turbulent seas. But eyewitness accounts contradicted that version of events, with passengers telling officials that appeals to turn back to port had fallen on deaf ears as the ferry began to take on water.
Ferry lies at depth of 514 metres
Ünal Üstel, the northern Cyprus prime minister, told reporters the Filo Jet was lying on the seabed at a depth of 514 metres and that he foresaw the Turkish salvage ship “reaching [it] tomorrow afternoon”. Boats, helicopters, aircraft and other search and rescue teams had joined the operation, he said, adding that search efforts were continuing “on a 24-hour basis”.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a coup aimed at union with Greece – engineered by the military junta then in power in Athens – prompted Turkey to invade and seize the island's northern third. Ever since, as many as 45,000 mainland Turkish troops have been stationed in the north. In 1983, the territory unilaterally declared independence, but in the absence of a settlement, decades of international isolation have ensued.
