Seven killed and 23 missing after ferry capsizes off northern Cyprus, raising questions over weather and rapid flooding
By SCN NEWS
NICOSIA/KYRENIA — At least seven people were killed and 23 remained missing on Sunday after a passenger ferry carrying 267 people capsized shortly after leaving northern Cyprus for Turkey, triggering a large air-and-sea rescue operation as survivors in life jackets clung to the overturned vessel. Turkish Cypriot authorities said 237 people had been rescued alive from the Filo Jet, which was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members from Kyrenia, also known as Girne, to Taşucu in Turkey's southern Mersin province.
The privately operated catamaran departed Kyrenia at around 12:30 p.m. local time and began taking on water shortly afterwards. Turkey's Interior Ministry said authorities were alerted when the vessel was about four nautical miles off Kyrenia and in danger of sinking. Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ünal Üstel said the distress call came roughly 15 minutes after departure, leaving rescuers confronting a disaster that developed extraordinarily close to shore and very early in what should have been a routine Mediterranean crossing to Turkey.
Video from the scene showed the ferry lying on its side with passengers wearing red life jackets standing and sitting on the exposed hull, while others were visible in the water as rescue vessels approached. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman said authorities had recovered seven bodies and were conducting an intensive search for those still unaccounted for. He warned that reaching anyone potentially trapped inside the overturned ferry was particularly difficult and said teams were attempting to use additional technology to determine whether people remained within the vessel.
The operation quickly expanded beyond the local coast guard. Turkey's Interior Ministry said four Turkish Cypriot coast guard vessels and the passenger ship Akgunler 3 were initially deployed, while Turkey sent five coast guard vessels and two helicopters. The Turkish Naval Forces subsequently assigned another six naval assets to support the search. Survivors were transported back to Kyrenia, where ambulances and medical teams were waiting as authorities established a crisis centre to coordinate the response.
What caused the ferry to overturn remains unresolved. Üstel said the vessel had originally been expected to travel on Saturday but the journey was delayed because of weather conditions. He told Anadolu that after departing Sunday, the ferry encountered a wave and then began taking on water after being hit by another while its captain attempted to recover. Erhürman, however, said that although Cyprus had experienced severe storms on Saturday, conditions on Sunday had been considered suitable for travel. Reuters reported authorities had not yet established the definitive cause.
That sequence makes the timing of the disaster especially significant. The ferry did not encounter trouble deep into a lengthy crossing: it was still only a few miles from Kyrenia when the emergency developed. Investigators will therefore need to establish whether weather conditions alone explain the rapid flooding and capsize, or whether the vessel's condition, stability, loading or another mechanical or operational factor contributed. No such additional cause has yet been established, and attributing the disaster solely to weather would be premature while the search operation and initial inquiries remain underway.
The tragedy also produced an unusual humanitarian response across Cyprus's longstanding political divide. The internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus, which does not control the north, offered to provide search-and-rescue resources. Government spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis said Cyprus had the operational capacity and readiness to assist immediately, while authorities contacted the United Nations peacekeeping force to communicate the offer to the Turkish Cypriot side. Cyprus has remained divided since 1974, and the Turkish Cypriot administration in the north is recognized as a state only by Turkey.
The disaster came a day after severe storms struck Cyprus. Reuters reported that one person died in the internationally recognized south after a sailboat crashed onto rocks during rough weather on Saturday. Erhürman acknowledged the preceding storm while emphasizing that Sunday's conditions had been judged suitable for the ferry journey, a distinction likely to become central as authorities reconstruct the decision to allow the vessel to depart.
For now, officials say the investigation is secondary to finding the missing. Üstel said all available resources were being mobilized and authorities would release confirmed information as it became available. With 237 rescued from 267 people aboard, seven confirmed dead and 23 still unaccounted for, the search remains an active rescue operation — particularly because officials have not ruled out the possibility that some missing passengers could be trapped within or around the overturned vessel.