A second rescue vessel, the TCG Alemdar, arrived off the coast of Kyrenia on Wednesday morning, the Cyprus Mail has learnt, as efforts continue to recover the wreck of a passenger ferry that sank while en route to Turkey on Sunday.
Sources close to the matter told the newspaper that the boat is now located off Cyprus’ northern coast, and will aid the TCG Isin, which arrived on Tuesday, as well as the various other maritime and aerial means deployed as part of the operation, in their endeavours.
The boat’s arrival comes after Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman had confirmed on Tuesday evening that that the ferry had been located by the search-and-rescue team aboard the TCG Isin.
“The location of an object, which is currently considered to be the sunken ship, has been determined. This object was detected at a depth of 550 metres. I repeat, it is considered that it is the sunken ship,” he said outside the new port of Kyrenia, where a crisis desk has been in operation since Sunday afternoon.
It is expected that the TCG Alemdar will now work to pull the wreckage from the bottom of the sea to the surface.
On Wednesday morning, Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia mayor Murat Senkul, as well as the north’s ‘finance minister’ Ozdemir Berova and ‘energy minister’ Olgun Amcaoglu visited the families of those who remain unaccounted for three days after the ferry sank.
According to official figures, 20 people have remained missing since Sunday, and their families gathered outside the new port’s entrance for the fourth consecutive day on Wednesday morning.
Earlier, search and rescue teams at the surface had begun to recover suitcases which were floating in the seas off Kyrenia, while a life jacket washed up on the coast at Karavostasi, near Lefka.
Eight people have so far been confirmed to have died as a result of the accident, with four funerals having taken place on Tuesday in addition to one on Monday.
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