Deep-sea vessel joins search for 14 missing after Kyrenia ferry sinking

Kyrenia, Cyprus. The deep-sea research and survey vessel Optimus Prime has arrived off the coast of Kyrenia and is expected to join recovery efforts on Monday for 14 people who remain missing after a passenger ferry sank off the town on August 30.

The privately owned vessel was commissioned by the Turkish government and Turkish authorities to support the Turkish naval ships TCG Isin and TCG Alemdar, which have been searching the wreckage since the beginning of September.

Search operation

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel said on Sunday night that the Optimus Prime’s technical capabilities would be used to access interior sections of the wreckage, located 554 metres below the sea surface, and reach the missing people.

“We are confident that we will achieve results in this new phase,” he said, adding that the families of the missing should know that “the state has not given up on their loved ones”.

Ustel said search operations were continuing uninterruptedly by sea, land and air, seven days a week and 24 hours a day.

Victims and conditions

Eight people were confirmed dead on the day of the sinking, while six further bodies were recovered from the wreckage by search-and-rescue teams in the following days.

No bodies have been recovered since September 6, eight days before the vessel’s arrival. Ustel said on September 6 that conditions for the search-and-rescue operation, particularly underwater and inside the sunken boat, were becoming increasingly difficult.

Ferry sinking and investigation

The ferry capsized shortly after leaving Kyrenia’s new port for the Turkish port of Tasucu shortly after midday on August 30. It had 259 passengers and eight crew members on board.

All eight crew members, including captain Mustafa Oz, were arrested on the day of the disaster and remain in custody. They most recently appeared in court on Friday last week, when a police representative said five more people were wanted in connection with the case.

The court had previously heard that Oz, who was publicly identified as 66 years old, had bought his Honduran captain’s licence for $3,500.