Search and rescue teams recovered the body of one of 20 people missing after a passenger ferry capsized off northern Cyprus, officials said on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to at least nine.
Police detained the ferry’s captain and 15 others, nine of whom appeared in court in Kyrenia on Monday charged with negligent homicide, with another seven people also facing court proceedings.
In court, the captain said the front of the vessel had been smashed open by the force of the waves, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency said.
The latest recovery raised the death toll to nine and reduced the number of missing people to 19. On Tuesday, a specialist Turkish vessel, the TCG Isin equipped with an underwater drone capable of descending to depths up to 1,000 metres joined the rescue operation with a second, the TCG Alemdar, arriving on Wednesday.
“There were 20 people missing, and we have recovered the body of one of them,” TRNC Prime Minister Unal Ustel told reporters, adding that the victim was believed to be a man aged about 50. Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, he said authorities believed the missing individuals had been on board the vessel when it capsized. Ustel did not say where the body had been found.
