A Turkish navy salvage ship carrying a remotely operated vehicle and an atmospheric diving suit was due over the wreck of the ferry Filo Jet on Tuesday afternoon, September 1, 2026, as the search off northern Cyprus entered a third day with 20 people missing and eight confirmed dead after the vessel capsized on Sunday, August 30.
The 42.8-meter (140-foot) catamaran, operated by Filo Denizcilik, went down shortly after leaving the new port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), bound for Tasucu in Turkey’s Mersin province. It was carrying 267 people — 259 passengers and eight crew — almost all of them Turkish or Turkish Cypriot.
Of those aboard, 239 were brought ashore alive, a total lowered after two individuals first listed as rescued turned out to be missing instead. Earlier tallies put the number of survivors at 241 and, in a first account given to broadcaster TRT by Unal Ustel, prime minister of the TRNC, at 237. The missing count has climbed from 17 to 18 and then to 20; two of them come from northern Cyprus and the other 18 hold Turkish citizenship. Children number among them.
Salvage Ship Heads for the Wreck
The Filo Jet lies in about 514 meters (roughly 1,640 feet) of water some 4 nautical miles off Kyrenia, well beyond the reach of the equipment available locally. TCG Isin, a Turkish navy rescue and salvage vessel that set out from Canakkale and can work at depths down to 3,000 meters, is to survey the hull, determine whether anyone remains inside and recover the voyage data recorder, the black box seen as central to explaining what went wrong.
Day three of the round-the-clock operation drew on nine boats, eight ships, seven helicopters, five unmanned aerial vehicles and a single aircraft. “Our greatest priority is reaching our missing people,” Ustel said. Authorities believe there is a significant possibility that passengers who could not get out were trapped in cabins when the vessel overturned. One Turkish Cypriot official told the Guardian that hopes of finding anyone alive were very slim, and that many of those unaccounted for were thought to be elderly people and mothers with small children.
Captain Among Nine Remanded in Custody
Kyrenia District Court heard from 14 people on Monday, and Judge Hazal Hacimulla ordered nine of them held in custody for three days over allegations that carelessness and negligence had caused deaths. Those detained were the ferry’s 66-year-old captain, Mustafa Oz, along with seven fellow crew members and one official from the company. Five further individuals — among them ports department officials and people holding shares in the operator — were to be investigated at once, the court directed. Officials have emphasized that being detained does not in itself amount to criminal liability.
Mehmet Mannas, an assistant police inspector, testified that the tip of the port forward hull section fractured after the ferry had run about 4 miles from port, after which it took on water and capsized. Crew members were told water was coming in from beneath the vessel, the court heard, but the voyage continued. According to Mannas, the ship carried Turk Loydu approval and port authority permits and had cleared a survey in June 2026; TRNC authorities, he said, had verified that enough lifejackets and liferafts were aboard — an account contradicted by survivors who spoke of a shortage. The crew told the court the bow broke apart in turbulent seas.
Fifteen Minutes Out of Kyrenia
The ferry left at about 12:30 p.m. local time (09:30 GMT), roughly an hour behind schedule, on a crossing originally set for Saturday but postponed because of the weather. It began taking on water about 15 minutes later, off Diana Beach on the island’s northern coast, some 7.5 kilometers out. Ustel told TRT that two waves struck the boat, the second hitting as the captain tried to recover from the first. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said conditions were not bad and urged against speculating about the cause, which has not been officially established.
Survivors said the catamaran moved erratically and slammed down hard on the surface, breaking its bow, and described a noise like an explosion. Footage showed suitcases and belongings strewn across the water and passengers in life vests standing on the overturned hull as helicopters lifted them off. Ayten Bicer, whose six-year-old son Mehmet and 12-year-old daughter Saliha are among the missing, said her daughter slipped from her grasp in the chaos. “I lost two of my children,” Bicer told Turkey’s DHA news agency.
Questions Over an Aging Ferry
The 26-year-old vessel, built around 2000, sails under the Turkish flag, according to Marine Traffic. Police testified that the ferry had sustained damage in an accident in Turkey roughly 12 years ago and that it was purchased in 2024, with the operating permit issued following the sale. Documents quoted by TRNC media indicate a still earlier mishap on October 26, 2003, when the ship struck a quay and suffered serious water ingress about 10 days later. Serhat Akpinar, general secretary of the Democratic Party, said Turk Loydu inspections in March and May 2018 logged 29 deficiencies and asked whether they were fixed before the vessel was licensed for the Mersin–Kyrenia service.
Erhan Arikli, the TRNC minister of public works and transport, said public office is a place of accountability, not protection, and that he would resign if he were among those responsible. His ministry has suspended all Filo Denizcilik sailings from the TRNC until further notice; from Tuesday, Akgunler Denizcilik is serving the link on a route set by the Coast Guard Command, and Pegasus Airlines added four flights between the TRNC and Turkey the same day. Turkish Cypriot officials have said it is likely all those responsible will be charged with gross negligence.
Ustel has described the sinking as the worst maritime disaster in Cyprus’ history. Three days of national mourning declared by the Turkish Cypriot Council of Ministers run through Wednesday in the territory, which has controlled the northern third of the island since declaring independence in 1983 and is recognized only by Turkey. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the Anglo-Cypriot founder of easyJet, offered €260,000 (£223,000) for the families of the dead and missing. Visiting Kyrenia’s new port, where relatives gathered for news, Erhurman vowed the search would go on without interruption, day and night.