Passengers say captain ignored calls to turn back before Kyrenia ferry sank

Kyrenia, Cyprus. Passenger and eyewitness accounts on Monday described the sinking of a passenger ferry off the coast of Kyrenia the previous day, with several passengers saying the captain refused calls to turn back as the vessel began taking on water. The captain told the Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia district court that waves had broken off the front of the boat.

Passengers’ accounts

A passenger receiving treatment at northern Nicosia’s Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu hospital told Turkish opposition New Party deputy leader Ali Mahir Basarir that passengers had urged the captain to return to port before the ferry sank.

“We told him to stop. We were telling him so much to stop. He did not stop. It was already clear when we were going, the boat was flying into the sky and landing back on the sea. We told him to stop and he did not stop,” she said.

Basarir travelled to the island after the ferry sank.

Rescue operation

Local boat owner Mustafa Koc told Turkish television channel NTV that the captain was the first person to leave the ferry as it began to sink, rather than the last, as maritime tradition dictates.

Koc said his company normally offers boat tours from Kyrenia’s old port, but did not operate on Saturday because storms had hit the island. After being informed of the ferry’s situation, he said, his crew immediately went out on their tour boat.

“We saw the boat listing sideways on the way. There were about 80 or 90 people. The people on the boat were in a good condition. We somehow approached and tied ourselves to it,” he said.

Koc said his boat took about 60 to 65 passengers to the new port, where ambulances were waiting.

“The captain of the boat got off first. I had the captain on board my boat. I took him. I also had the first mate,” he said.