Kyrenia “mayor” criticises steep ticket price rises after deadly shipwreck

Kyrenia, Cyprus. The self-styled “mayor” of occupied Kyrenia, Murat Şenkul, criticised sharp increases in ticket prices following Sunday’s deadly shipwreck, saying fares rose from 6,000 Turkish lira to 22,000 lira amid increased demand.

He said hundreds of passengers remained at the city’s port in difficult conditions while waiting to travel, including people whose leave had ended and others needing to return urgently to their home countries.

Ticket prices and demand

Şenkul said increased demand for plane tickets following the disaster was expected, but criticised the resulting price rises.

“It’s not normal for tickets worth 6,000 lira to reach 22,000 lira because of forced demand. Even under these circumstances, we couldn’t escape commercial logic. Shame on all of us,” he said.

Port operations

Şenkul said daily life needed to return to normal after the disaster. He said shipping companies not connected to the incident should continue operating their routes, provided weather conditions permitted.

He also suggested that the port’s exit route could be adjusted according to the location of the accident so that sailings would not interfere with the search for missing people.

Recovery and accountability

Şenkul said the community remained shaken, saddened and anxious after the tragedy, but that these feelings should not prevent necessary action.

He said Kyrenia would recover, lessons would be learned from the mistakes that led to the disaster, and those responsible would be held accountable.