At least 7 dead, 23 missing after ferry capsizes off Northern Cyprus
A passenger ferry carrying 267 people capsized and sank off Northern Cyprus on Sunday, leaving at least seven people dead and 23 missing as rescue teams searched the sea through the day, officials said.
The vessel went down about 6.5 kilometres (four miles) offshore shortly after leaving the port of Kyrenia for Tasucu, on Turkey's southern coast. The cause was not immediately known, but one rescued passenger said the bow had exploded and the ferry had begun taking on water.
“The front part exploded, they tried to turn around. And the side windows blew out. The boat started taking on water,” the passenger, a man in his 50s, told North Cyprus television after being brought ashore. He said he spent an hour and a half in the water before rescuers pulled him out, and that many passengers were still inside the ferry when it flooded. “Those who could, got out,” he said, adding that the captain was among the first to abandon ship “without organising anything.”
Uncertainty over the toll persisted through the evening. Prime Minister Unal Ustel of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus told Turkish media that seven people had died and 23 were missing, while 172 had been rescued. Transport Minister Erhan Arikli later said the ferry had “completely sunk to a depth of 514 metres” and that 161 survivors had been taken to hospital and 76 had gone home with their families.
Private vessels joined the rescue effort, and Turkey’s interior ministry said six navy ships had also been dispatched. The health ministry in northern Cyprus said hospitals had been put on alert.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a public ceremony that efforts to find the missing were continuing “tirelessly,” and called for positive news. Turkey’s vice president, Cevdet Yilmaz, said Ankara was providing all necessary assistance.
Erdogan is due to visit the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Monday for talks with its president, Tufan Erhurmann. It will be his first trip there since 2023.
The incident casts a spotlight on the sea link between Kyrenia and Tasucu, a route that is vital for a territory that depends heavily on Turkey. The TRNC, recognised as a state only by Ankara, controls the northern third of Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974, when Turkey occupied the area in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at union with Greece.