Court hears of mechanical faults on ferry that sank off Kyrenia
Black box recordings revealed generator, exhaust and steering problems on the ferry that sank on August 30, leaving 27 people dead and one child missing, a court heard.
Kyrenia, Cyprus. Recordings recovered from the black box of a ferry that sank off Kyrenia revealed faults affecting its generator, exhaust system and steering, the Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia district court heard on Friday. The hearing concerned nine people arrested following the disaster.
Recordings describe faults and earlier incidents
Yeniduzen reported that a police representative outlined the recorded conversations to the court. In one exchange, the first mate, who is among the nine defendants, said that “the boat needs a complete overhaul”.
Another recording described how a steering fault had brought the ferry dangerously close to a different vessel on an earlier voyage, the representative said.
The court also heard that a recorded conversation referred to a different captain having crashed the ferry in Yumurtalik, a town in Turkey’s Adana province. Police said they had established that captain’s identity.
Engineering examinations and custody extensions
The police representative said naval engineers were examining recovered sections of the ferry. Investigators were also looking into the conduct of a mechanic believed to have been aware of every malfunction affecting the vessel, although the mechanic was not currently a suspect.
At the conclusion of Friday’s proceedings, the court extended the detention of all nine suspects by seven days, keeping them in custody until the next hearing on October 23. They comprise captain Mustafa Oz, seven fellow crew members and a director of Filo Denizcilik, the company operating the ferry.
Before the hearing on Friday morning, relatives of those killed or still missing assembled outside the Kyrenia courthouse to demand justice for their loved ones.
Twenty-seven deaths confirmed
The ferry went down just after noon on August 30, having departed Kyrenia’s new port for Tasucu in Turkey. It was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members.
The disaster has claimed 27 confirmed lives. One passenger, three-year-old Anni Asel Hilaloglu, is still missing.
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