NICOSIA: One individual died after a ship with round 270 individuals on board capsized off North Cyprus on Sunday (Aug 30), Turkish Cypriot media reported.
Turkish Cypriot Transport Minister Erhan Arikli informed Anadolu that one passenger had died when the ferry capsized. He stated there have been 267 individuals on board, 259 of whom had been passengers and eight of whom had been crew.
The privately owned ferry left the North Cyprus port of Kyrenia at 12.30pm and instantly began taking over water for an unknown purpose, Türkiye‘s state-run information company Anadolu reported.
It was heading for the Turkish port of Tasucu in Mersin province within the jap Mediterranean.
These rescued from the vessel had been taken to Kyrenia port to be transferred to hospitals, he added.
Murat Senkul, the mayor of Kyrenia, informed broadcaster CNN Turk that 159 passengers on board the vessel had been reached.
Video footage confirmed individuals in crimson life jackets sitting or standing on high of the overturned vessel as authorities scrambled coastguard and personal vessels for help to carry them to shore.
The Kibris newspaper reported that the vessel, which some stories stated was a catamaran, started taking in water about 4 miles off the shore.
