Questions raised over official death toll in Filo Jet shipwreck off Kyrenia

Kyrenia, Cyprus. Turkish Cypriot media reported on Tuesday that the official death toll from the Filo Jet shipwreck may be under question after a survivor said he recovered two bodies whose names were not included among the eight deaths announced earlier.

Claims under investigation

Ozgur Gazete published statements from a man who had been aboard the vessel, who said he pulled two bodies from the water on Sunday.

He said the names of the two people did not appear on the list of eight dead announced the previous day.

Following his statement, members of the Turkish Cypriot police arrived at Kyrenia port and took the man to give a formal statement so that his claims could be investigated. Yeni Duzen reported that a possible discrepancy between the official death toll and the survivor’s account was under investigation.

Search and recovery operations

Search operations continued for a second consecutive night, involving eight ships, nine boats, one aircraft, seven helicopters and five UAV drones.

Turkish Cypriot leader Unal Ustel had announced the previous day that a specialised search vessel capable of operating at depths of up to 1,000 metres was due to arrive from Turkey on Tuesday to reinforce the operation.

Efforts to locate and recover the Filo Jet’s black box are continuing as authorities seek to establish the exact cause of the shipwreck. The ferry sank to a depth of about 514 metres, complicating data recovery operations.

Investigation into sinking

Authorities are examining available data on the vessel’s condition, weather conditions and decisions taken before its departure.

Eight crew members, including the captain, and one further man have been arrested as part of the investigation.

The Filo Jet was travelling from Kyrenia to Tasucu port in Mersin, Turkey, when it capsized at sea. It was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members.

The crossing had originally been scheduled for Saturday but was postponed because of severe weather. Although conditions improved on Sunday, difficult conditions still prevailed when the accident occurred.