Kyrenia court extends detention of nine Filo Jet case suspects: ferry skeg was repaired improperly

The court in Kyrenia has extended the detention of nine suspects in the Filo Jet ferry disaster case by another 7 days. The decision was prompted by new investigative materials: crew correspondence indicates that the vessel’s damaged left skeg was repaired improperly, and that the captain knew about it.

A skeg is a side keel responsible for a vessel’s directional stability. According to the investigation, on 7 June a crew member sent a photograph of the damaged left skeg to the work chat, and on 17 June the captain’s assistant, Merve N. Serjan, wrote that the part was broken and had been repaired however possible. According to the case materials, the repair was carried out by the captain himself, Mustafa Öz.

Investigators are determining where and by whom the repair was carried out: if the vessel was repaired somewhere other than a shipyard and not by qualified specialists, the charges could be upgraded. For now, all nine are accused of causing death by negligence.

The Filo Jet ferry sank off the coast of Kyrenia on 30 August. There were 259 passengers and 8 crew members on board; 14 people died and another 14 are still listed as missing. After the disaster, Erhan Arıklı was dismissed as Minister of Transport of the TRNC.

By this point, investigators had questioned more than 300 witnesses, while the vessel’s voyage data recorder has not yet been found. In addition to the repair, investigators are examining the crew’s qualifications, the distribution of powers within the company, documents on vessel inspections, its speed and weather conditions on the day of the disaster.