Northern Cyprus: Arrest warrants issued for 14 suspects in connection with the ferry sinking
TRT Haber reported that a court in northern Cyprus issued arrest warrants on Monday for 14 suspects in yesterday's passenger ferry sinking off Cyprus, which killed eight people.
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The channel quoted judicial sources confirming that the detainees include the ferry's captain, crew members, and a number of employees of Filo Denizcilik, the company that operates the ship, as part of a broad investigation into the circumstances of the tragic accident.
In a related development, a Turkish sailor revealed to NTV that the ferry's captain was among the first to leave, explaining that he personally transported the captain to shore in his boat. Two surviving passengers reported the following day that the captain ignored the passengers' pleas to redirect the ship as soon as water began leaking into it, before the crew left the ship urgently, leaving the passengers in a dangerous situation.
For its part, the authorities in Northern Cyprus declared three days of official mourning for the victims, who numbered at least 8 people, including a Russian citizen. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Ünal Üstl, indicated that the search operations are still underway for 18 missing persons, confirming that the authorities were able to detain the captain of the ferry and 8 other officials for questioning, while using drones and divers to intensify the search efforts for the missing.
Local authorities are investigating the possibility that the ferry collided with a floating or rocky object during its voyage. They will also re-examine the passengers' account of the captain ignoring their urgent requests to redirect the ship at the moment it began to sink. However, the final report on the causes of the disaster that claimed the life of the ship, which was carrying 267 people, will be issued after analyzing the contents of the black boxes, especially since the ship settled on the seabed at a depth of 514 meters, making direct inspection difficult.
