Search and rescue efforts off the coast of Keryneia (Girne) entered a critical new phase on Tuesday, 48 hours after a passenger ferry sank in the northern shores of Cyprus, as a Turkish naval vessel equipped with deep-sea robotic systems arrived on scene. Speaking to The Levant Files, Kanal T Editor-in-Chief Aytuğ Türkkan said the TCG Işın, which had sailed from Çanakkale, reached the site on Tuesday morning and deployed unmanned robotic systems capable of diving to depths of 1,000 metres. The wreck itself lies at roughly 500 metres, and many of the 20 people still listed as missing are believed to be trapped inside the hull. According to Türkkan, the robotic units carry cameras that can document conditions inside the wreck, along with robotic arms capable of lifting up to 130 kilograms — giving rescuers a real capacity to intervene, not just observe.
Türkkan said the initial emergency response, in which survivors were rushed to hospitals by ambulance crews and medical staff, had gone relatively smoothly. What followed, he said, was far more troubled: authorities struggled for hours to provide relatives with basic information, and the official death and missing toll itself proved unstable. An initial figure of 18 was revised upward to 20 only after police cross-checked hospital records name by name. Families who waited outside the port for more than 24 hours without food, water or updates grew increasingly angry, Türkkan said, with public frustration in the past two days turning sharply against state officials, even as belated food and shelter assistance was eventually provided.
A judicial process is also underway. A court ordered that not only the ship's crew but also company executives and officials from the Department of Ports be brought before the court, after prosecutors initially charged only the crew. The defendants are due back in court on Thursday. Questions have also emerged over the vessel's history — including a reported earlier attempt by Hatay Metropolitan Municipality to purchase the ship, which was abandoned after inspections raised concerns about its seaworthiness — as well as over the captain's licence, reportedly issued in Honduras and unrenewed since 2022.
Politically, criticism has centred on Public Works and Transport Minister Erhan Arıklı, whose ministry oversees vessel inspections, licensing and port departures, including decisions tied to weather conditions on the day of the sinking. Türkkan noted that many of those affected hold dual unrecognized TRNC-Turkish citizenship, deepening the political stakes of the disaster.
Messages of solidarity from the Greek Cypriot side drew relatively little public debate, Türkkan said — not out of indifference, but because the accident unfolded and ended within roughly thirty minutes, leaving no practical opening for cross-community rescue assistance once the ship went down. From this point on, he said, everything depends on technological capacity rather than manpower.
You can watch the interview in Turkish the Youtube.
Photo: Kıbrıs Postası
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