Nine people appeared in court on Monday after having been arrested in connection with the sinking of a passenger ferry off the coast of Kyrenia on Sunday, with eight people confirmed to have been killed and 18 more still missing after the accident.

The ferry’s captain, seven members of its crew, and a shareholder of its operating company, Filo Denizcilik, all appeared before the Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia district court.

Shortly after proceedings began, judge Hazal Hacimulla ordered that they be adjourned until 11.30pm, with arrest warrants having been issued for 16 people. She asked that the remaining seven be brought to the court before proceedings continue.

The ferry had capsized with 259 passengers and eight crew onboard shortly after leaving the new port of Kyrenia at around 12.10pm on Sunday, having been en route to the Turkish port of Tasucu.

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel had promised on Sunday evening that “every aspect of this incident will be investigated” and that “even the slightest negligence will be uncovered”.

“It is both the duty and the responsibility of our state to fully investigate this great tragedy … Our grief is immense today, but our state, with all its institutions, is fulfilling its duty,” he said.

As such, he said, “we are now focused with all our strength on reaching our missing loved ones, healing our wounds, and uncovering the full truth of this great tragedy”.

Search-and-rescue operations are continuing off the coast of Kyrenia on Monday morning, with both boats and helicopters having been deployed to the area.

The presence of helicopters north of Kyrenia have caused passenger flights out of the north’s Ercan (Tymbou) airport to reroute over the south of Nicosia, rather than taking their typical route north over Kyrenia and towards Turkey.

As such, residents of the southern half of the capital have been able to see and hear low-flying passenger aircraft above them both on Sunday and Monday.