Search continues for 20 missing after passenger ship sinks off Kyrenia

Kyrenia, Cyprus. Search teams continued efforts to locate 20 people still missing three days after a passenger ship capsized and sank off Kyrenia. Turkish vessels TCG Işın and TCG Alemdar were deployed to support recovery operations.

Wreck search and recovery operation

Using advanced sonar and a robotic underwater vehicle, the TCG Işın located an object at a depth of about 550 metres believed to be the sunken vessel.

The TCG Alemdar was expected to join the operation, bringing underwater salvage technology that could be used to recover bodies feared trapped inside the ship.

The Turkish rescue and towing vessel TCG Işın arrived at the sinking site early the previous morning and began operations. Its commander, Lieutenant Commander Ulaş Cesur, said the vessel’s search systems were being used to locate and confirm the wreck’s exact position on the seabed in the area where the Filo Jet is believed to have sunk.

Cesur said that, once the wreck is identified, the TCG Alemdar will begin recovery operations, while a remotely operated underwater vehicle conducts detailed searches and inspections.

Capabilities of TCG Işın

According to CNN Turk, the TCG Işın was built in Istanbul using domestic resources and entered service in 2017. The vessel is 68 metres long and 14 metres wide and is designed for rescue, towing, diving and underwater operations, as well as medical support.

It is fitted with an Atmospheric Diving System used by specialist first-class divers, allowing operations at depths of up to 365 metres. Its remotely operated robotic system can reach depths of up to 3,000 metres.

The vessel also has a fixed two-compartment hyperbaric chamber for nine people, used to treat divers with diving-related conditions through oxygen and gas mixtures under high pressure.

The ship is crewed by specialist diving personnel. According to its captain, it can conduct rescue operations using systems capable of reaching 1,000 metres and manned dives to depths of 90 metres.

Once the wreck is identified, recovery operations are expected to begin at a depth of around 500 metres, while the remotely operated vehicle searches and inspects the area around and above the wreck.

Experts to examine vessel records

Six experts from Turkey were expected to examine complaints and claims concerning the condition of the passenger ship, which sank shortly after departing for Taşucu.

The claims include allegations that the vessel was poorly maintained, had missing documentation and had what critics described as a “burdened history.”

Erhan Arıklı, the north’s so-called “transport minister”, whose “ministry” has faced criticism as the authority responsible for licensing the vessel, said six fully authorised experts from Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure would arrive on the island.

The experts, travelling to Nicosia at the request of the Turkish Cypriot side, are expected to examine all documents and evidence relating to the catamaran and prepare a report.