The sister of Gulcan Gurel, who died when a ferry sank off the coast of Kyrenia on Sunday, said on Wednesday that her sister had given her own life jacket to her daughter as the ferry began to sink.
Eda Payam, who was on the ferry and made it to shore alive, said at Gurel’s funeral in the Turkish city of Mersin that she, her sister, their father, Bayram, and Gurel’s daughter, Tusem, had travelled to Cyprus to visit the two sisters’ brother, Mehmet, who is a soldier based on the island.
She said that when the ferry returning them to Turkey began to capsize, and as “panic ensued”, her sister had removed the life jacket she was wearing and given it to her daughter, before telling her, “my daughter is entrusted to you from now on”.
Gurel’s body had been flown from Cyprus to Cukurova airport, near Mersin, on Tuesday.
Later on Wednesday, the funeral of Fahri Ates (above), who also died in the ferry disaster, was held in his hometown, Erdemli, which lies west of Mersin.
Ates, a sergeant in Turkey’s gendarmerie, had travelled to Cyprus for a summer holiday with his wife, Fahri. Their son, Atabey, did not travel to Cyprus, but was at Tuesday’s funeral.
The ceremony was attended by Mersin province deputy governor Mehmet Ali Ozkan, provincial gendarmerie commander Sinasi Guclu, and other dignitaries.
The ferry began to capsize shortly after leaving the new port of Kyrenia at around midday, having been en route to the Turkish port of Tasucu.
Thus far, eight people are confirmed to have died as a result of the accident, while search-and-rescue operations, looking for a total of 20 people who, according to official figures, remain unaccounted for have been going on for four consecutive days.
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