Kyrenia court hears the sunken ferry had generator, exhaust and steering faults

Cyprus Mail reported on 16 October 2026 that the Turkish Cypriot Kyrenia district court heard the ferry which sank off Kyrenia in August had suffered malfunctions in its power generator, its exhaust and its steering, according to conversations recorded by its black box. The hearing continued the case against the nine people arrested after the sinking.

Citing the newspaper Yeniduzen, Cyprus Mail said a police representative told the court of the conversations. In one, the ship’s first mate, who is among the nine defendants, said that “the boat needs a complete overhaul”. On the steering fault, the representative said a recorded conversation had the boat “come very close to another vessel” on a previous voyage. The black box also held a conversation in which it was said that “another captain” had crashed the ship in the town of Yumurtalik, in Turkey’s Adana province. The representative said that captain’s identity “has been determined”.

Parts of the boat which have been recovered are being examined by naval engineers. An investigation has been launched into the conduct of a mechanic “who is believed to have known about all of the boat’s malfunctions” but who is not currently a suspect.

The court extended the remand of all nine suspects by a further seven days. They are the captain, Mustafa Oz, seven other members of the crew, and one director of the operating company, Filo Denizcilik. The next hearing is on 23 October. Families of the dead and the missing gathered outside the courthouse in Kyrenia that morning.

The ferry sank shortly after midday on 30 August, after sailing from the new port of Kyrenia to the Turkish port of Tasucu with 259 passengers and eight members of crew. Cyprus Mail said 27 people are confirmed to have died, and that one passenger, three-year-old Anni Asel Hilaloglu, remains unaccounted for.