Five die off coast of Cyprus

FIVE people drowned and 27 persons were missing yesterday after a fishing boat carrying asylum seekers sank off the northern coast of Cyprus.

The boat was believed to be transporting 39 asylum seekers when it went down, some 3.5km off the coastal town of Yialousa.

The alarm was raised when a tourist yacht spotted two Syrians swimming in the sea. They were picked up and handed over to Turkish Cypriot authorities. A further five people, all Syrian nationals, were rescued later in the day.

According to sources in the north, the fishing boat was based in the Turkish port city of Mersin. It was not clear where it was headed.

Justice Minister Doros Theodorou cited uncorroborated reports that the ill-fated vessel began its journey from Syria.

In their testimony to ‘police’, the two rescued Syrians said the vessel sank around 5.30am.

According to the Turkish Cypriot press, one of the men who died was a mainland Turk residing in the occupied areas; he was apparently one of the vessels’ two crew members. The other four who lost their lives were Syrians.

The boat was also said to be transporting Pakistanis and Afghans.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.