NICOSIA, Sept 1 (Reuters) – A specialist team equipped to search deep waters was due to arrive from Turkey on Tuesday as emergency crews pressed on with efforts to find 20 people missing after a ferry capsized off northern Cyprus.
At least eight people died when the double-hulled vessel started taking in water and overturned shortly after leaving the port town of Kyrenia on Sunday with 267 passengers and crew on board.
Survivors who scrambled to safety by clinging on to part of its overturned hull were picked up by boats in the area, but there are some accounts that other passengers may have got trapped in compartments as the boat flipped.
Children are among those missing.
The wreck lies on the seabed at a depth of more than 500 metres (1,640 feet), beyond the reach of the resources available locally. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman said the incoming team would bring specialised equipment to explore the wreck and surrounding seabed.
“Intervening at the seabed is not possible with the resources we currently have, but from tomorrow that intervention will be possible,” Erhurman told reporters on Monday.
It remained unclear whether any of those missing were trapped inside the vessel. Footage posted on social media appeared to show people still inside one of its compartments as others perched on the tip of the boat waiting for help.
The cause of the disaster is under investigation, though Turkish Cypriot authorities said the vessel had a valid seaworthiness certificate.
Witness accounts have said the ferry, a wide-bodied catamaran, was lurching violently before crashing back into the water, the impact tearing open part of its bow.
A court on Monday remanded nine people connected to the vessel’s operations in custody for three days to assist police inquiries.
(Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
