NICOSIA, August 30. /TASS/. The fate of the 99 people aboard the ship that ran into trouble off the coast of Kyrenia remains unknown, Mayor Murat Shenkul told the Kibris newspaper.

The mayor stated that Turkish Cypriot authorities have so far managed to contact 159 of the 258 people who were on board. The fate of the remaining 99 people is still unknown. The ship’s crew is among those unaccounted for.

Earlier, Kibris reported that a high-speed vessel carrying approximately 270 passengers and crew members was in distress off the coast of northern Cyprus. According to the newspaper, the incident occurred 6.6 kilometers off the coast near Kyrenia. The cruise ship began taking on water for an unknown reason, and preliminary estimates suggest that it had approximately 270 passengers and crew members on board. Numerous vessels were subsequently dispatched to the area to provide assistance.