The deep-sea rescue vessel the TCG Isin arrived off the coast of Kyrenia on Tuesday morning, having been deployed to the area to search for the ferry which sank shortly after setting sail from the town for Turkey on Sunday.

It is currently believed that the ferry sank to a depth of 514 metres beneath the surface of the sea, with Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel having said on Monday that he believes the boat will be reached on Tuesday afternoon. 

After arriving in the waters off Cyprus, the vessel’s commander Ulas Cesur said that the first task will be to determine the ferry’s exact location, with a “detailed exploration and investigation” to then commence in and around it.

This, he said, will be conducted with a “remote-controlled underwater device”, which will search the boat and its surroundings.

The TCG Isin entered service in 2017, and is capable of carrying out search-and-rescue missions at a maximum depth of 1,000 metres.

Cesur said that the ship allows for “atmospheric dives” of up to 365 metres below the sea’s surface, though this is less than the depth to which the boat sank.

Meanwhile, search-and-rescue teams at the surface began to recover suitcases which were floating in the seas off Kyrenia, while a life jacket washed up on the coast at Karavostasi, near Lefka.