At least 8 dead, 17 missing after ferry capsizes off Northern Cyprus
Captain and crew arrested after survivors report explosion on bow before vessel sank into deep waters
A passenger ferry capsized and sank off Northern Cyprus Sunday, killing at least eight people and leaving more than a dozen missing, officials and media reports said, as police took the captain and seven crew members into custody.
Several rescued passengers told local media a blast had gone off at the bow of the ferry before it rolled over, and said the boat had an insufficient supply of life-vests.
The vessel capsized 6.5km (4 miles) off the coast of Cyprus, shortly after leaving a Northern Cyprus port bound for Turkey’s mainland.
Images broadcast by Turkish television showed the upside-down ferry in the water, with people wearing life vests atop its orange hull.
“Some people had to jump without lifebuoys or life jackets,” one young man, Efe Multici, told CNN Turk. “It was literally a fight for survival.”
The ferry had been carrying a total of 267 people, according to authorities, of which 161 were rescued and taken to hospital and 76 have returned home.