(Milliyet Newspaper, 27 July 2020)
After-party capsizing! Everyone's invited!
The night before last a sea-taxi overloaded with 27 people, instead
of the authorized 15, capsized off Heybeliada (Heybeli Island) near
Istanbul after a birthday party. The craft was heading for Bostancı
on the mainland at about 1 in the morning when the accident occurred.
Everyone survived, although 11 people were hospitalized.
Captain M.B. (30) told police he had at first objected to taking on
too many passengers but relented when the party organizers persuaded
him to do so. However, although none of the capsizing victims filed a
complaint against M.B., some said he was the first to abandon ship (!).
In addition, the sea-taxi was operating without a license.
Fortunately, nearby fisherman Uğur Kıran noticed the sinking and
rushed to save those in the water, as he notified the Coast Guard and
maritime police. Kıran explained that "Twelve or thirteen of them
didn't have life-jackets. I first took aboard 14 victims and brought
them to shore and went back and rescued some more before the Coast
Guard and maritime police arrived to save the remaining few from
the water."
Hero fisherman Kıran, right, works 7-24.
Kıran has something of a family history with regard to such rescues.
He said that his father İbrahim Kıran had saved three helicopter crew
members when they crashed near Heybeliada in 1974.
Sea-taxi driver M.B. was heard to say
"so long suckers!" as he fled the island.
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