At least eight dead and 17 missing after ferry capsizes off northern Cyprus

At least eight people have died and 17 people are missing after a ferry carrying nearly 270 passengers and crew capsized off the coast of Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus, local authorities said.

The territory’s prime minister, Ünal Üstel, told the state-run TRT news channel on Sunday that 237 people had been rescued. A search was under way for those who remained unaccounted for.

“Search and rescue teams are working very intensively to find them,” said the Turkish ​Cypriot leader, Tufan Erhürman. “If there are people still inside the vessel, reaching them does not appear easy ‌at the moment. Efforts are being made using other technologies to reach them as well.”

The ferry had “completely sunk to a depth of 514 metres”, said Erhan Arıklı, the territory’s transport minister.

The catamaran-style ferry had been travelling from the port of Kyrenia, also known as Girne, in the breakaway north of divided Cyprus, to the port of Taşucu in Mersin province, Turkey.

The port area of Kyrenia is a popular holiday destination for local people ⁠and tourists. The private ferry was one of several daily shuttle services that link northern Cyprus with Turkey.

Mehmet Harmancı, the mayor of Turkish-held northern Nicosia, described the disaster as the worst in the more than 40 years since the territory proclaimed independence.

“We’ve not seen anything like this before. It’s by far the worst tragedy. There are 23 people still missing. We think most of the passengers were Turks and Turkish Cypriots,” he told the Guardian.

Hours after the ferry capsized, many details remained unclear. “We still don’t know how many have been injured or to what degree. All the injured are being brought to hospital here in [northern] Nicosia. I’m off to the hospital and am in the process of gathering warm clothes.”

Kyrenia’s mayor, Murat Şenkul, said the ferry belonged to the Filo Denizcilik company and had sunk off Diana beach. It started taking in water about 7.5km (4 nautical miles) off the coast, TRT reported.

Video footage from the scene showed people wearing life vests floating in the waters around the capsized vessel. When the ship capsized, passengers clung to its overturned hull.

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation reported the boat was new and that when it began taking in water four miles from the coast, the captain had told the passengers to put on lifejackets.

Erhürman told CNN’s Turkish channel he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life.

He said: “The ship capsized. It has sunk in an area where the water is 514 metres deep. So far, we have reached 244 people.”

Speaking from the crisis centre set ⁠up in the area, he said: “There is a great sense of shock here. This is not something we have experienced before ... We are extremely saddened. Everyone is doing everything they can and making every effort.”

A source close to Erhüman said the ferry was a popular means of travel between the mainland and the island for Turks working in northern Cyprus.

“It’s much cheaper than the plane and only fakes a few hours. A lot of Turkish citizens use it to travel and see their families back home,” said one official requesting anonymity. “You could say that a lot of the passengers were poor. It’s all just so very sad.”

Four coastguard vessels and a civilian passenger boat were deployed to the scene, along with five Turkish coastguard vessels and two helicopters, local officials said.

With Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters