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Four bodies recovered after the Filo Jet tragedy have been identified. The high-speed passenger catamaran, with 267 people on board, sank off the coast of Northern Cyprus, causing the death of at least eight passengers and triggering a large-scale search and rescue operation.
Most of the passengers and crew were rescued, while 18 remained missing by Sunday night, according to Tufan Erhurman, President of the Turkish Cypriot Administration in Northern Cyprus, as reported by the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
The vessel's captain and seven crew members were detained as part of the accident investigation, according to Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel, who added that the circumstances of the incident would be thoroughly investigated and any negligence detected during the investigation would be determined.
The ferry was sailing from Kyrenia, also known as Girne in Turkish, to Tasucu, in southern Turkey. The Turkish Ministry of Interior reported that the vessel was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew members when it began taking on water about 4 miles from Kyrenia. Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz described it as a catamaran-type vessel.
Turkish and Northern Cypriot authorities participated in the search operation, deploying helicopters and naval units to locate the missing. Rescued passengers were subsequently transferred ashore in Kyrenia.
No nationalities of the passengers on board have been disclosed. Ferries operating between Northern Cyprus and southern Turkey are primarily used by Northern Cyprus residents, including people with Turkish or Cypriot passports, as well as passengers from mainland Turkey.
According to Ustel, the ferry's departure had been postponed by one day due to adverse weather conditions. He explained that the vessel encountered a first wave offshore and began taking on water after the impact of a second wave, while the captain was trying to regain control.
Survivors reported that passengers repeatedly asked the captain to return to port due to the rough sea and the vessel's unstable behavior.