Search continues near ferry wreck off Kyrenia as 10 remain unaccounted for

Kyrenia, Cyprus. Search teams are continuing to examine the area where a ferry sank off Kyrenia in August, working “inch by inch”, Turkish Cypriot ‘transport minister’ Faiz Sucuoglu said on Wednesday. Ten people remain unaccounted for.

Search at the wreck site

Sucuoglu told Kibris TV that teams were working 550 metres below sea level. He said the search robot takes four and a half to five hours to descend, while bringing a recovered item to the surface takes eight to 10 hours.

He said the operation was proceeding slowly, with teams working around the clock. Searches will continue around the sinking site and could expand in the coming days, although the robot can see only about 10 metres around it.

Investigation and court proceedings

Sucuoglu said the police investigation into the disaster was continuing intensively. He said following the investigation and judicial process to their conclusion was a priority for the government and prime minister.

The ferry capsized shortly after leaving Kyrenia’s new port for the Turkish port of Tasucu a little after midday on August 30. It was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members. Eighteen people are confirmed to have died.

Nine people remain in custody: the ferry’s captain, Mustafa Oz, seven crew members and a director of its operating company, Filo Denizcilik. They most recently appeared in court last Friday.

The court heard that Turkish Cypriot authorities had not been informed of a crack that appeared on the ferry’s left side on June 17, although both Oz and Filo Denizcilik were obliged to report it.

At an earlier hearing, the court was told that Oz had bought his Honduran captain’s licence for $3,500. A police representative said Oz had told investigators that he had initially obtained a licence in Turkey, but it became invalid after he did not work as a boat captain for 10 years.

The Cyprus Mail has contacted Honduras’ directorate-general of merchant maritime to seek verification of the licence’s authenticity.