Ayten Bicer felt her 12-year-old daughter slip from her hands and disappear as a ferry capsized off Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus on Sunday, killing at least eight people.
Her daughter Miray, and 6-year-old son Mehmet Asaf, were among nearly 20 people still missing on Monday as search teams looked for survivors in waters more than 500 meters deep.
“She was saying, ‘Don’t let go’. And I didn’t let go of my daughter. I swear, I didn’t let her go,” Ayten Bicer sobbed.
A suitcase fell on top of her, forcing the girl from her grasp. The mother caught hold of the daughter’s foot, but her shoes, coated in engine oil from the overturned vessel, slipped through her hands.
The double-hulled ferry with 267 aboard took in water and flipped over on Sunday just off the port city of Kyrenia, known as Girne in Turkish, leaving survivors clinging to the overturned hull. They were rescued by passing vessels and the coastguard authorities.
