Turkish Cyprus ferry tragedy toll hits 19 with

KYRENIA

Rescuers recovered another body from the ferry tragedy that occurred off Turkish Cyprus in late August, raising the death toll to 19 with nine people still missing, officials said on Oct. 3.

The update came in a statement from the office of Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel.

The crowded “Filo Jet” ferry carrying 267 people capsized on Aug. 30 shortly after leaving the port of Kyrenia in the north of the divided island.

Rescuers pulled 239 people to safety but eight others died, triggering a huge operation to find 20 missing people.
Search efforts have continued ever since with expert crews searching in and around the wreckage which is lying at a depth of 514 meters (1,686 feet).

On Sept. 25, Üstel said rescuers had found the ferry’s voyage data recorder (VDR), its “black box,” which had been handed to the police for examination, with its data expected to give a clearer indication of what caused the tragedy.

He said efforts to search for the wreckage had been completed, but efforts to find those still missing would continue.

Within hours of the tragedy, police arrested nine people on suspicion of death through negligence, among them ferry captain Mustafa Öz, seven crew members and a director of Filo Denizcilik, the ferry’s operator.

All nine were back in court in Kyrenia on Oct. 2 for a hearing at which their remand in custody was extended for another seven days.

At the hearing, police told the court the VDR had been handed to the Turkish authorities on Sept. 30 and that the data stored on it had been transferred to a drive then and returned to them but said analyzing it would take some time.