Captain and crew of capsized Cyprus ferry taken into custody after at least seven people were killed
Rescue helicopters and coastguard vessels rush to the scene where a capsized ferry carrying 270 people left 99 unaccounted for off northern Cyprus.Survivors in lifejackets were seen sitting atop the upturned orange hull as nearby boats joined the coastguard response four miles off the Kyrenia coast.
The captain and crew of the Filo Jet ferry have been detained after the vessel capsized off northern Cyprus on Sunday, killing at least seven people and leaving 22 or more unaccounted for. The catamaran-style ferry, carrying around 270 passengers and crew from Kyrenia to the Turkish port of Tasucu, started taking on water only 15 minutes into the voyage. At least 237 survivors have been pulled to safety, many having clung to the upturned hull, but the vessel has since sunk to a depth of 514 metres, severely hampering recovery efforts.
Northern Cyprus PM Ünal Üstel said the vessel faced adverse weather conditions, with the sea described as 'quite rough' at the time of the disaster.
Tufan Erhürman, leader of the Turkish Cypriot community, cautioned that getting to anyone still trapped inside the sunken wreck 'does not appear easy at the moment'.
Kyrenia mayor Mehmet Harmancı called it the territory's worst disaster in the four-plus decades since it declared independence.
