The first person to rush to the aid of the sinking ship speaks out

One of the first people to rush to the aid of the passenger ferry disaster that occurred off the coast of Kyrenia in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus was Fırat Gencer, who works as a water sports instructor at a hotel in the region. It was reported that 8 people lost their lives and 18 people are missing in the accident.

Noticing that the ferry was sinking, Gencer notified the coast guard teams and then set out to sea with his boat. Gencer stated that despite the poor weather conditions, they reached the location of the ferry within 20-25 minutes and transported approximately 100 passengers to the shore in two trips.

Explaining that the incident occurred shortly after the ferry departed, Gencer said, "About 15 minutes had passed when we saw the ferry suddenly stop and them deploying the orange life rafts. We immediately informed the coast guard. They said they would investigate. A few minutes later, they called me and said a distress call had been received."

Gencer stated that weather conditions made search and rescue efforts difficult, adding, "The weather was bad; we reached them with our boat in 20-25 minutes. If we hadn't seen them, or if this boat had traveled for another 10 minutes before the accident, there would have been many more casualties."

Gencer noted that they experienced difficulties during the rescue due to diesel fuel leaking from the ferry into the sea, and that teams were waiting on the shore to whom they handed over the rescued passengers. Gencer said, "We brought in about 100 passengers in 2 trips. There are also missing persons; I wish we could have done more."