The voyage data recorder on board the Filo jet catamaran had been silent since the evening of 28 August, leaving no recording from the day the vessel sank off Kyrenia, according to police testimony at the latest hearing in the case. The Kyrenia “district court” ordered that the nine suspects be remanded for a further seven days.
What the recorder showed
As reported in the north, a “police deputy inspector” testified that the voyage data and audio recorder (VDR), located on the ship’s bridge, stopped working on 28 August at around 20:30, after the sound of footsteps was recorded. As a result, there is no recording for 30 August, the day of the accident.
According to the inspector, earlier audio recordings contain the phrase: “This ship will not make it through the season.”
He testified that the captain did not inform the “port authority” or another “competent service” that the device had been switched off, as required.
Warning signals on the bridge
According to the testimony, warning signals were present on the ship while the device was switched off. These were visible only from the bridge and were not transmitted to the “ports department”.
Prosecution and defence
The representative of the prosecution said the condition of the device created liabilities and could lead to additional charges.
The suspects face charges of causing death through negligence and negligent conduct.
Their lawyer said, among other things, that none of the suspects caused the deaths and that rescue teams could have reached the site within five to six minutes.
Three more victims identified
The names of three more victims of the shipwreck were announced. They are the couple Julia and Ayhan Özcan, and Suleiman Erdogan, who held “citizenship” in the north.
The number of bodies recovered has now reached 19. The official death toll stands at 27, while one person remains missing.
Turkish Cypriot media note that 267 passengers and crew were on board. A total of 239 people were rescued, while eight people lost their lives on the first day of the accident.
Recovery operation
Searches are focused on the wreckage, which lies 554 metres below the sea surface, and on an area approximately 2.3 kilometres north of the shipwreck site.
According to reports, teams using specialised underwater systems recovered one more body from a depth of 649 metres.
Siblings buried in Hatay
In the Reyhanlı area of Hatay, Turkey, 12-year-old Saliha Miray Biçer was buried beside her six-year-old brother, Mehmet Asaf Biçer. Her body was recovered recently, while her brother was recovered from the sea last week.
Source: CNA
