Fourteen people are confirmed dead, and 14 others remain missing from the 267 passengers and crew aboard a ferry that capsized off northern Cyprus on Sunday, August 30, 2026, and the toll is still rising, with searchers recovering another body on most days since the sinking.
The 14th victim, a man aged between 55 and 60, was recovered on Sunday, September 6, Turkish Cypriot “prime minister” Unal Ustel said. One person remains in the hospital. On Saturday, September 5, the count stood at 13 dead and 15 missing. The vessel was carrying 259 passengers and eight crew when it went down shortly after leaving the new port of Kyrenia, bound for the Turkish port of Tasucu.
Recovery Effort Grows More Difficult
Ustel said search-and-rescue work was continuing around the clock, seven days a week. “As the days pass, the conditions for the search-and-rescue operation, especially underwater and inside the sunken boat, are becoming increasingly difficult,” Ustel said. Teams working from the air, at sea, underwater and on land were pressing on without pause, he added, and authorities were also weighing new resources and alternative methods.
Private specialist teams are surveying the site of the accident and the wreck itself and drawing up initial reports, Ustel said. He said he would go to Istanbul to review those findings with firms experienced in deep-sea wreck searching and ship salvage, then meet senior officials from the vessel’s insurance company, before holding high-level meetings in Ankara and returning to Cyprus to lay out a roadmap for the coming period for the families of the missing and for the public.
Relatives of those still unaccounted for gathered outside the new port of Kyrenia for an eighth successive day, waiting for word.
How the Ferry Went Down
The catamaran-style vessel left Kyrenia, known as Girne in Turkish, around midday on August 30, heading for Tasucu in Turkey’s Mersin province on one of several daily shuttle services linking the breakaway north with Turkey. It began taking on water about 4 nautical miles (7.5 kilometers) off the coast and settled on the seabed at a depth of 514 meters (about 1,690 feet). The ferry belonged to the Filo Denizcilik company and sank off Diana beach.
Dispatched to the scene were a civilian passenger boat and four coast guard vessels belonging to the Turkish Cypriots. The coast guard also deployed passenger ships, five pilotage units and two helicopters, and Turkish naval forces assigned another six naval units. Of those on board, 241 were rescued, Northern Cyprus President Tufan Erhurman said that day, one of several tallies officials gave as the operation unfolded; Erhan Arikli, then the north’s transport minister, told state broadcaster TRT that 161 people had been taken to hospital and 76 were back with their families. Three children pulled from the sea were in intensive care on August 30. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country had mobilized all its resources for the rescue.
Cyprus had been battered by fierce storms on Saturday, August 29, when one person died after boats were driven onto rocks off the island’s southeastern coast. Erhurman said the weather the following day was considered suitable for travel. Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Turkey, occupies less than a third of the island, which has been divided since 1974.
Captain and Crew Remain in Custody
All eight crew members were arrested on the day of the disaster and remain in custody after appearing in court on Thursday, September 3. A police representative told the court that the captain, Mustafa Oz, had bought a Honduran captain’s license for $3,500 after making contact with people in Greece, his original Turkish license having expired following a 10-year break from the industry. It was also claimed in court that Tasucu had been closed because of storms in the region and was due to stay shut until 3 p.m. that Sunday, but that Oz set sail at midday regardless. The claims have not been tested at trial, and no one has been convicted.
Burak Arif Kaya, 23, a dentistry student in Cyprus, told the Tak news agency that passengers noticed the boat appeared to be taking on water as they boarded and that when they alerted the captain, Oz told them: “How many years have I been a captain? I know this job better than you.” Kaya’s account also alleged that the crew locked the doors of the passenger cabin as water poured in and that the captain and his first mate jumped from the vessel. Mustafa Koc, a local tour boat operator who sailed to the scene, told the Turkish television channel NTV that he took the captain and the first mate aboard his own boat.
Ali Mahir Basarir, leader of the Turkish opposition New Party, said on Wednesday, September 2, that every survivor he met during hospital visits told him passengers had pleaded with Oz to turn back and that he refused. Arikli said on August 30 that passengers had made several allegations about the crew, including that doors were locked and that the captain fled, and that his ministry would open an inquiry separate from the police investigation. Arikli was later sacked, and his party, the YDP, withdrew from the north’s ruling coalition.
Kaya said he pulled a woman who is eight months pregnant and three children from the sinking ferry alongside his friends Burak Can Keskin, 22, and Sudenaz Sonmez, 20. Keskin said passengers had to break a window to get out into heavy seas. Ustel said the north’s only goal was to reach everyone still missing.
