The captain of a ferry that capsized off Cyprus jumped overboard after passengers begged him to turn back, survivors have claimed.
The disaster unfolded at approximately midday on Sunday, roughly four nautical miles off the Northern Cyprus coastline, when the Filo Jet ferry bound for the Turkish mainland capsized and sank.
By Monday morning, authorities in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus confirmed that at least eight people had perished, with a further 20 passengers unaccounted for.
Those aboard the Filo Jet catamaran are said to have grown alarmed almost immediately after departure, as the vessel began slamming violently into waves just a few miles from the port of Girne.
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Multiple survivors say they begged 66-year-old captain Mustafa Oz to return to harbour, but were rebuffed.
“They told us: ‘You’re not used to this. Nothing will happen. We’re used to it. There won’t be any trouble,'” one passenger recounted to the Turkish-language newspaper Kıbrıs.
Another passenger, Efe Multici, told CNN Türk: “Three or four minutes later, the ferry leapt high into the air, then came crashing down. The front left side burst open and water started pouring in.”
When water began seeping into the cabin, crew members dismissed the concern.
“The crew came, took a look and told us there wasn’t a major problem, just a loose gasket causing a leak,” survivor Serkan Kunduraci told the Associated Press.
Moments later, two enormous waves smashed through the hull of the dual-hulled ferry, which was carrying 267 passengers.
The vessel’s departure from Girne had originally been planned for Saturday but was postponed due to a storm that brought winds of up to 110mph.
Although skies had cleared by the time the ferry eventually set sail, the sea remained treacherous.
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Captain Oz and seven members of his crew were detained and filmed in handcuffs as an investigation was launched.
Passengers who rushed to the rear exit discovered the door was locked, and had to wait for staff on the other side to eventually force it open.
Others smashed through windows and scrambled onto the overturned hull, reaching back to pull fellow passengers to safety.
A lifeboat failed to deploy properly and became trapped beneath the vessel, costing further lives, according to one survivor’s account on CNN Türk.
Survivors reported that life jackets appeared insufficient for everyone on board, and some children who could not swim drowned before they could be fitted with one.
Mr Kunduraci said: “We witnessed a family’s children, boys and girls, very young children, drowning.”
Passengers also accused Captain Oz of leaping into the sea “without organising anything” before any evacuation had been coordinated.
Rescue helicopters and civilian boats reached the scene within 20 minutes, discovering survivors perched atop the capsized hull and others floating in the water.
On Monday afternoon, search operations for the 20 missing passengers,18 Turkish nationals and two Northern Cypriots, were still underway.
Turkey dispatched two drones and a maritime patrol aircraft to assist.
TRNC transport minister Erhan Arıklı said the ferry had come to rest on the seabed at a depth of 1,680 feet, and stressed that retrieving its black box would be essential to understanding what went wrong.
Prime Minister Ünal Üstel pledged a thorough inquiry, saying: “Every aspect of this incident will be investigated. Even the slightest negligence will be revealed.”
A three-day mourning period was declared across Northern Cyprus.
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