Üstel dismisses Arıklı amid investigation into fatal Kyrenia vessel sinking
Ünal Üstel said Erhan Arıklı was dismissed to ensure the investigation into the vessel sinking off Kyrenia proceeds without doubt.
Kyrenia, Cyprus. Ünal Üstel announced the dismissal of “Minister of Public Works and Transport” Erhan Arıklı, saying the move would allow the investigation into the fatal maritime disaster off Kyrenia to continue without suspicion or doubt.
The vessel sank off Kyrenia on Sunday, August 30, leaving 20 people missing.
Search operation continues
Search and rescue teams have recovered the body of one of the missing people, believed after an initial assessment to be a man aged about 50.
The body was transferred to the Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu State Hospital in Nicosia for identification. Nineteen people remain missing.
A second, more advanced search and rescue vessel capable of operating at greater depths has joined the operation. The search is complicated by the site’s depth of about 550 metres.
Üstel had said the search would continue around the clock and that no further bodies had been found at that stage.
Arrest warrant
According to Cyprus Police records, an arrest warrant has been issued against Arıklı since 1996 over his alleged connection to the killing of Tassos Isaac, an unarmed Greek Cypriot protester who took part in a civilian demonstration in the United Nations Buffer Zone that August.
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