Deep-sea captain finds discrepancies in Filo Jet documents: 50-mile limit on a 64-mile voyage

Deep-sea captain and former member of the Assembly of the TRNC Mentesh Gündüz said that the Filo Jet ferry disaster off Girne could have been prevented if the applicable maritime regulations had been followed. Speaking on Gündem Kıbrıs Web TV, he listed discrepancies between the vessel’s permits and its actual voyage.

According to him, the vessel operated under a “Permit to Operate” certificate — an operating permit that allowed it to go to sea in waves no higher than 3 m and to travel no more than 50 nautical miles from shelter. The distance between Girne and the Turkish port of Taşucu is approximately 64 nautical miles, and Gündüz believes this discrepancy should be investigated.

He divided responsibility into three levels: the shipowner, the crew and the state supervisory authorities. The rules themselves, Gündüz noted, cover the vessel’s technical condition, authorization for the voyage, crew qualifications and inspection mechanisms.

He separately addressed the crew’s documents: the captain’s certificate had been issued under the Honduran flag. Gündüz asked on what grounds such a document had been accepted in the TRNC and recalled that Türkiye does not recognize Honduran certificates. In his view, checks should cover not only the vessel’s technical condition but also the qualifications of every crew member.

After the vessel capsized, passengers made their way onto its hull, while the liferafts, which can also be deployed manually, were not put into use. The vessel sank within 45 minutes to an hour. With a properly prepared crew, the rescue operation could have been significantly more effective, Gündüz believes.

He recalled two earlier vessel losses — Dolphin 2 in 2004 and Dolphin 1 in 2007 — and warned that rules left on paper would lead to new tragedies. Gündüz spoke positively of the work of the coast guard, Turkish rescuers, fishermen and private boat owners, noting that the accident occurred closer to shore than in the worst-case scenario.