Rescuers search for 18 missing after boat capsizes off Northern Cyprus

What the report says

Rescue teams were still searching on Monday for 18 people missing after a ferry capsized off the coast of northern Cyprus, a day after eight passengers died, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing local authorities and international news agencies. The accident happened shortly after the vessel left the port of Girne, also known as Kyrenia, bound for Tasucu in southern Turkiye. Authorities said the ferry was carrying 267 passengers and crew, with 241 people rescued and the ship now resting on the seabed at a depth of more than 500 metres.

The state news agency of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus said the captain and eight other people were brought before a judge and placed under formal arrest while investigators examined the cause of the sinking. Officials said divers from Turkiye were helping with the search, and that recovering the vessel’s data recorder could help explain what happened. Al Jazeera reported that the north began three days of national mourning following the disaster.

Survivors described the ferry taking on water before it overturned, while others said there may have been an explosion or that safety equipment was insufficient. Rescue workers and witnesses said some passengers had to jump into the sea wearing little or no flotation gear. The incident underscores ongoing safety concerns around busy cross-border ferry routes in the eastern Mediterranean, though the exact cause has not yet been confirmed.