Two more bodies from Kyrenia ferry wreckage found

Two more bodies have been found near the wreckage of a ferry which sank off the coast of Kyrenia last month, Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel said on Monday, with the total number of people confirmed dead as a result of the accident now having risen to 17.

He said the bodies were located around a kilometre away from the wreckage, and that “DNA analyses have been initiated to determine the identities of the recovered bodies and to ascertain whether they belong to the missing passengers”.

“The families will be duly informed once the search results are obtained,” he said.

He added that seabed search operations around the wreckage are continuing, and that the Turkish Cypriot authorities “will continue the search efforts until we locate our missing persons”.

A total of 11 people now remain unaccounted for as a result of the accident.

The ferry capsized shortly after leaving the new port of Kyrenia en route to the Turkish port of Tasucu at a little after midday on August 30, with 259 passengers and eight crew members on board.

Nine remain in custody with court case ongoing

Shortly after the accident, a total of nine people – the ferry’s captain, Mustafa Oz, seven members of its crew, and one director of its operating company, Filo Denizcilik – were arrested, and all nine remain in custody, with court proceedings against them ongoing.

The nine defendants most recently appeared in court last Friday, when it was heard that the Turkish Cypriot authorities were not informed about a crack which had appeared on the ferry’s left side on June 17, despite both Oz and Filo Denizcilik having been obliged to inform the authorities.

Previously, it had been said in court that the captain Oz had bought his Honduran captain’s licence for $3,500. A police representative said at the time that Oz had said under questioning that he had initially obtained a licence in Turkey, but that it had become invalid after he did not work as a boat captain for 10 years.

The Cyprus Mail has contacted Honduras’ directorate-general of merchant maritime in an attempt to verify the authenticity of the licence.