ISTANBUL (AP) — Survivors of a ferry disaster off the coast of northern Cyprus that killed eight people described on Monday the moments of terror as they scrambled to escape the sinking vessel.The passengers spoke as rescue teams searched for 18 people missing since the ship carrying 267 passengers and crew capsized after leaving Kyrenia, a port in breakaway northern Cyprus, for Tasucu in Turkey on Sunday afternoon.Serkan Kunduraci, who escaped the sinking ferry by hauling himself through a broken window, said he saw children and others drowning in the sea some 7.5 kilometers (4 nautical miles) off the Cypriot coast.“I saw some who didn’t know how to swim die in the sea,” he told the DHA news agency. “There were those who, in a panic, didn’t grab life jackets. Some jumped (into the sea) immediately out of fear. There was an old man, we couldn’t get him. We tried to pull him up, but we couldn’t. He drowned too.
“We saw and witnessed a family’s children, boys and girls, very young children, drowning.”Survivors told how the ferry began listing and taking on water after they heard a number of loud noises from below decks.“The crew came, took a look and told us there wasn’t a major problem, just a loose gasket causing a leak,” Kunduraci said.
