At least seven people dead after ferry capsizes off Northern Cyprus
Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel says 172 people rescued and 89 people remained missing after incident near port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne.
At least seven people have been killed when a boat with more than 260 people on board capsized off the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Turkish media report.
Northern Cyprus Prime Minister Unal Ustel said at least seven people died on Sunday after the ferry capsized, CNN Turk reported, adding that 237 people had been rescued and 23 people were missing.
“There has been a huge deployment to the area as part of the search and rescue effort affiliated with the Northern Cyprus coastguard command,” Al Jazeera correspondent Resul Serdar said.
The coastguard command deployed passenger ships, five pilotage units and two coastguard helicopters. Turkish naval forces assigned another six naval units.
Extending his condolences on social media, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had “mobilised all its resources” for the rescue operation.
Erdogan is scheduled to visit Northern Cyprus on Monday to meet its president, Tufan Erhurman, who was elected by the territory’s voters in October.
The self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is recognised only by Turkiye and occupies less than a third of the Mediterranean island.
A spokesman for the Republic of Cyprus government, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, said Nicosia was prepared to provide “immediate assistance”, adding: “At such a time, the protection of human life is above all else.”
The catamaran-style vessel had left the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, and started sinking a few kilometres off the coast.
Ustel said 267 people, including the crew, had been on board the vessel when it capsized.
Northern Cyprus Transport Minister Erhan Arikli told the Turkish news agency Anadolu that a rescue operation was under way to bring any injured people to Girne’s port and then transfer them to local hospitals.
Arikli added that the cause of the incident would be investigated.
“What we know is that a privately operated passenger ferry, a catamaran, departed the port of Girne at around 12:30pm local time [09:30 GMT] for Tasucu port in Turkiye’s southern city of Mersin and began taking on water for an as-yet-unknown reason shortly after leaving the port,” Serdar reported.
The captain issued a distress call as the ferry began taking on water, prompting the coastguard and port authorities to dispatch rescue teams to the area.
Images broadcast by Turkish television showed the upside-down ferry in the water with people wearing life vests atop its orange hull. The weather was sunny, and several boats were seen in the area to lend assistance.
“All necessary preparations are being made for a swift response from rescue and health services,” the Ministry of Health of Northern Cyprus said in a statement.
It added that hospitals in the territory had been alerted so they could provide any medical attention that might be needed.
