Rescuers have recovered the bodies of two women off the coast of northern Cyprus, bringing the death toll from last week's ferry accident to 12, officials said.
A FiloJet ferry was sailing from Kyrenia in Cyprus to Taşucu in Turkey on 30 August when it began taking on water around 6 km off the Cypriot coast before capsizing.
The vessel had 259 passengers and eight crew members on board when it went down, sparking a large-scale search and rescue operation.
In a post on X on Friday, Ünal Üstel, the prime minister of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, said the Turkish naval ships TCG Işın and TCG Alemdar had recovered the women's bodies during deep water searches, adding that 16 people were still missing.
"In order to locate the 16 people still missing, our search operations are continuing nonstop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the strong support of the Republic of Turkey and the participation of all relevant units," he wrote.
