All 27 bodies recovered following the Filo Jet ferry disaster have now been formally identified, leaving three-year-old Anni Asel Hilaloğlu (pictured top middle) as the sole person still missing more than five weeks after the vessel sank off Girne.
The latest DNA results, announced on Friday, 10 October, confirmed the identities of Süleyman Erdoğan (pictured top right), Yulia Özcan, Ayhan Özcan and Mustafa Demir, completing the identification of the bodies recovered during the intensive deep-sea search in recent days.
They join Orhan Bekret, Mehmet Nuri Ayran and 12-year-old Saliha Miray Biçer (pictured top left), whose identities were confirmed earlier this week.
The latest developments mean 27 people are confirmed dead, one remains missing and 239 survived the 30 August disaster. There were 267 passengers and crew aboard Filo Jet when it sank shortly after leaving Girne for Taşucu in southern Türkiye.
Brothers Mahmut and Mustafa Demir both found
One of the final identifications is particularly poignant.
Mustafa Demir, 33, had been travelling aboard Filo Jet with his younger brother Mahmut Demir, 28. For weeks their family in Reyhanlı, Hatay, waited for news of both men. Before either body had been identified, relatives had held funeral prayers in absentia for the brothers on 28 September.
Filo Jet victims, brothers Mustafa (left) and Mahmut (right) Demir
Mahmut was formally identified earlier this week. DNA results announced on Thursday have now confirmed that another recovered body was Mustafa.
The confirmation brings to an end more than five weeks of uncertainty for the Demir family.
Husband and wife Ayhan and Yulia Özcan identified
Two other recovered victims have been confirmed as married couple Ayhan Özcan and Yulia Özcan.
Filo Jet victims, husband and wife, Ayhan and Yulia Özcan
Their relatives had been waiting for news since the ferry sank. DNA examinations completed on Thursday confirmed that two of the recovered bodies belonged to the couple.
Ayhan Özcan is due to be buried in İzmir on Sunday, 11 October, while Yulia's family plans for her to be laid to rest in her native Russia, according to family information reported in Türkiye.
Süleyman Erdoğan helped other passengers escape
The fourth identification announced on Friday was Süleyman Erdoğan, a Turkish Cypriot resident of Esentepe.
Local reports say Erdoğan tried to help numerous passengers, including children, escape during the emergency before he himself disappeared.
He is due to be laid to rest at Esentepe Cemetery on Saturday, following funeral prayers at Esentepe Mosque.
Saliha Miray buried beside her younger brother
Among the most heartbreaking of the latest identifications is 12-year-old Saliha Miray Biçer. Saliha had been aboard Filo Jet with members of her family. Her younger brother Mehmet Asaf Biçer was also killed in the sinking and was identified following an earlier recovery from the seabed.
Saliha was laid to rest in Reyhanlı, Hatay, on Thursday, beside her younger brother.
Filo Jet victims, siblings Saliha Miray Biçer (left) and Mehmet Asaf Biçer
Also buried on Thursday was 27-year-old Mehmet Nuri Ayran, whose remains were returned to his home city of Adana, where he was laid to rest at Kabasakal Cemetery.
Another recently identified victim, 56-year-old Orhan Bekret, had already been buried at Çorlu Asri Cemetery in Tekirdağ.
Together with Mahmut Demir and 20-year-old university student Özgür Gönül, whose funeral also took place this week, the identities of all the bodies recovered from the Mediterranean have now been established.
Three-year-old Anni Asel is the last person missing
Attention is now centred entirely on Anni Asel Hilaloğlu, aged three, the only person aboard Filo Jet whose body has still not been recovered.
Anni Asel's mother, Nurcan Hilaloğlu, was among the eight people confirmed dead on the day of the disaster. Her six-year-old brother Miran Asaf Hilaloğlu survived, suffering minor injuries.
Filo Jet victim, Anni Asel Hilaloğlu, aged 3
Her father Salim Hilaloğlu has continued appealing to the authorities not to end the search for his little girl. With every other missing passenger now recovered, search teams are continuing their efforts to locate Anni Asel.
The scale and difficulty of the operation have been extraordinary. The wreckage of Filo Jet was found approximately 554 metres below the Mediterranean, while subsequent searches have extended well beyond the wreck after victims were discovered some distance away. One recent recovery was reportedly made at a depth of 649 metres.
Investigation also takes significant turn
Separately, there was another potentially important development in the criminal investigation on Thursday.
Police told Girne District Court that Filo Jet's recovered Voyage Data Recorder — its “black box” — contained no recording from the day of the disaster. Investigators say its audio recording stopped on the evening of 28 August, two days before the ferry sank, and they are investigating why.
Earlier recordings examined by investigators reportedly contain bridge conversations expressing concern about the vessel's condition, including references to it taking on water in rough seas. Those recordings form part of an ongoing investigation and do not themselves establish the cause of the sinking.
The nine suspects being investigated over allegations of causing death through negligence and carelessness were ordered to remain in custody for another seven days.
No definitive cause of the Filo Jet disaster has yet been established.
