Cyprus names preliminary cause of catamaran sinking
The crew of the passenger vessel FiloJet, which sank on August 30 off the northern coast of Cyprus, cites as the cause of the disaster the fact that the catamaran's bow section broke off.
This was reported by the news portal "Kıbrıs Postası."
The report states that "the crew's initial testimony indicates that the front part of the vessel broke off." The publication does not specify why this might have happened.
The portal also reports that the catamaran's eight-member crew — the captain, the second captain, the chief engineer, the second engineer and four more members of the onboard team — as well as the main shareholder of the company that owns the vessel, appeared early Monday morning before the Kyrenia District Court, where they are to be charged with "causing death by negligence." However, the court decided to postpone the hearing until 11:30 a.m., demanding the appearance of all 16 defendants, that is, in addition to these nine individuals, to bring into the courtroom the remaining seven people from among the officials and port personnel.
Earlier on Monday, the Minister of Public Works and Transport of the unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Erhan Arıklı, said, speaking on the Kibris TV channel, that two and a half months ago the catamaran had undergone a technical inspection at the company Turkish Lloyd, calling the latter "one of the world's leading and authoritative inspection and classification organizations." He also noted that the captain of the sunken catamaran has 25 years of experience and a license to operate vessels, and regarding the theory of a possible explosion on board the vessel he said that "all of this will become known following the results of the technical investigation."
On August 30, the passenger vessel FiloJet, owned by the company Filo Denizcilik, sank off the coast of the Cypriot city of Kyrenia. The two-deck high-speed catamaran with two fiberglass hulls was traveling from the Turkish Cypriot city of Kyrenia to the Turkish port of Taşucu in the municipality of Silifke in Mersin province. Shortly after entering the open sea, the vessel began taking on water, capsized and sank at a depth of 514 meters.
There were 267 people on board the catamaran. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman reported the rescue of 241 people, the deaths of 8 passengers and the continuation of the search for 18 missing people.
