Ferry sinks off Northern Cyprus, eight people dead. The Republic of Cyprus says it was told help was not needed

The Filo Jet ferry, with 267 people on board, sank off Northern Cyprus shortly after noon on Sunday. Eight people died and the vessel lies at a depth of 514 metres. Cyprus Mail ↗ The number of missing has meanwhile risen from eighteen to twenty, and fourteen detainees, including the captain, have appeared before the court in Kyrenia. Nine of them were remanded in custody for three days by the judge on suspicion of negligent homicide. Cyprus Mail ↗ The meeting between the President of the Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriot leader, which was due to take place on Wednesday, has been postponed by nine days at the request of the north. Cyprus Mail ↗

The rescue operation was led by Turkish and Northern Cypriot units. The Coordination Centre of the Republic of Cyprus, that is, the state internationally responsible for this search area, offered assistance and, according to its own statement, received the answer that it was not needed. Cyprus Mail ↗

What happened

The Filo Denizcilik catamaran left the new port in Kyrenia, known in Turkish as Girne, and was heading to the Turkish port of Taşucu in Mersin province. There were 259 passengers and eight crew members on board. According to the Turkish interior ministry, the vessel got into trouble about six and a half kilometres from the coast; TRT television spoke of four nautical miles, or roughly 7.4 kilometres. Kıbrıs Postası ↗ In the end, 239 people reached shore alive and nineteen of them remained in hospital. The number of missing moved during Monday from seventeen through eighteen to twenty - Prime Minister Ünal Üstel explained that the figure came from comparing the passenger list with the names of those rescued, rather than from a new discovery. Cyprus Mail ↗ Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı said on the same day that the number of missing would "probably not rise" above eighteen. The list of names published in the afternoon by Labour Minister Oğuzhan Hasipoğlu gives twenty. All eight victims are Turkish citizens; among the missing are two Cypriots. Cyprus Mail ↗

The cause is not yet known. A rescued passenger told Turkish television that there had been an "explosion" in the front part of the ship where he was sitting, the side windows were blown out and water rushed into the hull. He criticised the captain for jumping first without organising anything. He himself spent an hour and a half in the water. This is the testimony of one survivor, not a finding of investigators, and Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı called on people that same day not to believe disinformation spreading on social networks. n-tv ↗

On Monday, more testimony and the crew's first version were added to that. The captain told the court in Kyrenia that "waves broke off the front part of the ship". Passengers are saying something else - that they repeatedly asked the captain to return and he did not do so. "We told him to stop. We told him so many times. He did not stop. Even when we were already moving, it was clear, the ship was flying into the air and falling back into the sea," one of the passengers said from hospital in northern Nicosia to Ali Mahir Başarıroğlu, deputy chairman of Turkey's opposition New Party. Mustafa Koç, the owner of the excursion boat, told NTV that the captain left the ship first and that he, together with the first officer, was taken ashore by Koç himself. Cyprus Mail ↗

It is also worth noting what was written inaccurately in the first hours. Some reports, including our own early note, described stormy weather as the circumstance, while images from the scene show sunshine. The state of the sea on Sunday is, however, disputed and has since become the core of the crew's defence. BBC reports that the voyage had originally been planned for Saturday and postponed because of storms, with the sea still rough on Sunday, and Prime Minister Üstel speaks of two waves hitting the vessel in succession. BBC ↗ Against that stands what police told the court - the Turkish Cypriot meteorological office described the conditions for sailing on Sunday as suitable, and the catamaran was technically capable of handling waves of up to three metres. Cyprus Mail ↗ The strongest storms that hit the island over the weekend came on Saturday and are linked to another accident - a 76-year-old yachtsman died then near Cape Greco in the south.

📍 Kyrenia (Girne) - the port from which the ferry departed shortly after noon — view on map

The offer of help went through blue helmets

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Larnaca directs and coordinates search and rescue operations in the area that, according to the Republic of Cyprus government website, "coincides with the Nicosia Flight Information Region". That covers the entire island, including its northern part. The vessel therefore sank in an area for which the centre carries international responsibility. Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Cyprus ↗

The centre said it was ready to help with aerial search assets. It did not send the offer directly, however. According to the Cyprus News Agency, it contacted the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus with a request "to convey to the Turkish Cypriot side that the Republic of Cyprus is ready, if needed". President Nikos Christodoulides also instructed chief negotiator Menelaos Menelaou to request communication with the Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman. Cyprus Mail ↗

"When human lives are at risk, we contribute with every available means," the agency quoted a government official as saying. In the evening, the centre announced that it had been told its help was not needed. Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said that the protection of human life stands above everything else. Cyprus Mail ↗

On Monday it became clear what impact the episode had on direct communication between the two sides. The meeting between Christodoulides and Erhürman, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed to Wednesday 9 September at the request of the Turkish Cypriot side. The Monday talks between negotiator Menelaos Menelaou and Erhürman's state secretary Mehmet Dana were also cancelled. Government spokesman Letymbiotis announced this. Cyprus Mail ↗

How far apart the two sides are can be seen in the man who spoke publicly on the response. Minister Erhan Arıklı is one of eight people against whom the Republic of Cyprus is seeking warrants over the killing of Tassos Isaac - a 24-year-old protester who got caught in barbed wire in the buffer zone near Deryneia in August 1996 and was beaten to death. According to a report by Sigma television, they are accompanied by Interpol red notices renewed every five years. A red notice, however, is not in itself an international arrest warrant; it is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a person. Arıklı was never tried. In 2012 he was detained in Kyrgyzstan, but after Turkish intervention he was released and Cyprus did not manage to secure his extradition. When Greek Cypriot media marked the thirtieth anniversary three weeks ago and the renewed warrants, he mocked them with a Turkish proverb. Cyprus Mail ↗

Who actually responded there

The balance of deployed assets says more on this topic than the statements do. Northern Cyprus sent four coast guard boats, two helicopters, one patrol boat and one assault boat, plus civil defence and police teams. Turkey sent three aircraft, four drones, six helicopters, four coast guard boats, an assault boat, a patrol vessel and a frigate. The Republic of Cyprus, according to available reports, deployed nothing, since no one used its offer. Kıbrıs Postası ↗

The difference was not only in numbers. Search on the seabed at a depth of 514 metres is to be expanded by the Turkish vessel TCG Işın, which departed from Çanakkale on Sunday and is expected to reach the island on Tuesday morning. According to Erhürman, it can scan to a depth of three thousand metres, and rescuers want to reach the wreck on Tuesday afternoon. Cyprus Mail ↗ Recep Tayyip Erdoğan phoned Erhürman and Prime Minister Ünal Üstel, saying that Turkey would provide "unlimited support in every area needed". Cyprus Mail ↗

On Monday, Erdoğan was also due to travel to Northern Cyprus. His first visit since 2023 was to concern Erhürman, elected last October, but now the disaster has overshadowed it. The Guardian ↗

Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı told public broadcaster BRT on Monday that he would resign "if necessary", but would wait for the black box to be recovered. "I will resign if necessary, but attacking someone right from the start is unethical. Be patient. When the black box is found, everyone, including me, will bear whatever political responsibility emerges," he said. He also confirmed that all ferry services between Kyrenia and Taşucu are suspended, while the route from Famagusta to Taşucu continues to operate. Cyprus Mail ↗

In the meantime, a makeshift camp formed at the gate of the new port in Kyrenia. Dozens of relatives of the missing, mostly Turkish citizens, waited there in the heat for news and on Monday blocked the gate so that a car with diplomatic plates would not leave the premises. Ahmet Kaya, the Cyprus representative of Turkey's ruling AKP, came out to tell them that Turkey was deploying all available means, but he did not convince the people at the gate. "We are not animals," one of them replied, asking for an explanation from those sitting inside in air conditioning. Cyprus Mail ↗ Among the missing are also 12-year-old Saliha Miray and her younger brother Mehmet Asaf. Their mother Ayten Biçer described how her daughter slipped from her hands when a suitcase fell on them and the deck became slippery from leaked fuel. The family was returning from holiday; both parents and a third child survived. BBC ↗ Erhürman came personally to meet the families and promised that the search would continue without interruption day and night and that the investigation would examine every allegation. All eight victims have now been identified. Cyprus Mail ↗

The difference was also visible in whom foreign actors addressed their condolences to. The Pakistani prime minister sent his to Erdoğan and the Turkish government, the British embassy sent its message from Ankara, and the European Union delegation spoke from Turkey. The American embassy in Nicosia and the UN special representative Khassim Diagne offered condolences directly on the island. Cyprus Mail ↗

On Monday Arıklı said the authorities would examine all the passengers' claims, including that the doors had been locked and that the captain fled the ship. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport opened an investigation separate from the police inquiry and promised to publish findings on the vessel's documents, seaworthiness, port permits and safety measures. Anadolu ↗

The port that has been officially closed since 1974

Kyrenia is a closed port for the Republic of Cyprus. A government decree of 3 October 1974 declared Famagusta, Karavostasi and Kyrenia closed to all vessels and cited, in addition to sovereignty, the fact that safe navigation could no longer be guaranteed in the occupied areas. That decree remains in force to this day. This is not a prediction that came true, but a legal status under which the line has operated for fifty-two years. Cyprus Shipping Association ↗

A second layer is tied to this one. The entire island has been European Union territory since 2004, but under Protocol No. 10 to the accession treaty, EU law is suspended in the areas over which the government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control. In practice, that means the same EU regulatory regime does not apply here. EUR-Lex, Protocol No. 10 ↗

Arıklı said that Filo Jet had undergone inspection about two months before the accident at a Mediterranean shipyard and that it had been carried out by the Turkish classification society Türk Loydu. He also admitted that the vessel had started taking on water very quickly and said it was essential to reach its black box. Kıbrıs Postası ↗

Much more about the vessel emerged in court on Monday. A police representative said the catamaran had had an accident twelve years ago, was repaired in Turkey afterwards and was bought by the current operator Filo Denizcilik in 2024. Türk Loydu declared it seaworthy in June and, according to police, the number of passengers did not exceed capacity. There were enough life jackets on board, but the crew was not sufficiently informed about their number and location, which, according to police, did not help the evacuation. The defence added that there were four 100-seat life rafts on board, meaning capacity for 400 people, which would have been more than sufficient for the 267 people on board if deployed properly. Cyprus Mail ↗

The Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said on Sunday that it had no record of any Slovak citizens on board. teraz.sk ↗

Limits of this view

Both sides brought the offer itself. The Turkish Cypriot Kıbrıs Postası picked it up via the newspaper Yenidüzen, citing the Cyprus News Agency, including the instruction for Menelaou and the procedure through the UN peacekeeping force. What did not appear in the north was the rejection - only the centre in Larnaca and the Greek Cypriot media reported that, while Northern Cypriot communication simply listed its own and Turkish resources. We therefore do not know whether someone deliberately turned the offer down, or whether it stalled at a level that never made it into public communication. Kıbrıs Postası ↗

It is also true that divided sovereignty did not sink this ferry. The cause will be determined only by the investigation and the black box, and nothing so far suggests that help from the south would have changed the death toll - the hull overturned within minutes and most people were pulled from the water before any aircraft from Larnaca could have arrived. According to local media, the first on the scene was a private boat named Gencer, which evacuated around fifty people. The developments on Monday rather confirm that. The centre in Larnaca offered aerial search assets, but the phase on which everything now depends is the deep search on the seabed at 514 metres - and the vessel capable of reaching it was sent by Turkey. What the tragedy has so far produced for communication between the two sides is a postponement of their next meeting by nine days.

What the episode shows is something else. When something happens on this sea, the communication line between those who can help does not run directly, but through the UN peacekeeping force. In addition, the death toll changed every hour on Sunday, and individual officials gave slightly different figures.

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Illustrative photo: the old port in Kyrenia with the castle, where the flag of Northern Cyprus is flying. The ferry departed from the newer port further away. Photo Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.