Turkish opposition New Party deputy leader Ali Mahir Basarir on Wednesday said that every single one of the survivors he had met when he visited Cyprus after a ferry sank off the coast of Kyrenia on Sunday told him that the boat’s captain had been asked to turn back to port when it began taking on water, but refused.
“During our hospital visits, the survivors said, ‘we begged the captain to return, but he did not listen to us’. Every survivor we met said that. There are allegations about inadequacies regarding the ferry, the technical team, the captain, the staff, all of them. We will follow this matter. We will follow this event with a delegation,” he said.
He added that the various allegations made are “very serious”, and that “there are very serious claims about a previous accident, repairs made after that accident, and claims that this every should have never carried out passenger transport work”.
“We want and expect these claims to be investigated by the two countries and for those who are really responsible to be held accountable,” he said.
He had visited northern Nicosia’s Dr Burhan Nalbantoglu hospital on Monday, with one survivor being filmed telling him that she had asked the captain to turn the ferry back to port after it began to take on water, but that he refused.
“We told him to stop. We were telling him so much to stop. He did not stop. It was already clear when we were going, the boat was flying into the sky and landing back on the sea. We told him to stop and he did not stop,” she said.
The woman’s comments were not the only accusation of misconduct levelled against the captain, later named as Mustafa Oz, in the aftermath of the disaster.
Local boat owner Mustafa Koc told Turkish television channel NTV that far from being the last off the sinking ferry, as is maritime tradition, the captain had in fact been the first person to get off when the boat as it began to sink.
“The captain of the boat got off first. I had the captain on board my boat. I took him. I also had the first mate,” he said, having taken his own touring boat to the sinking ferry to rescue people after it began to capsize.
Questions have also been raised regarding the authenticity of Oz’s captain’s licence, which was reportedly issued by the Republic of Honduras in 2024.
The Cyprus Mail has contacted the Republic of Honduras’ directorate-general of merchant maritime in an attempt to verify the authenticity of the licence, and is awaiting a response.
Oz remains in custody, and is expected to next appear in court on Thursday.
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