The search efforts continue for Halit Yukay, the owner of Mazu Yachts, whose boat was found broken into pieces off the coast of Marmara Island. The captain of the dry cargo ship, C.T., who was detained in Yalova on suspicion of ‘causing death by negligence’ in connection with the incident, was referred to the Yalova Courthouse after procedures at the Coast Guard. The suspect was released under judicial control conditions by the court, where he was referred with a request for arrest.
C.T., the captain of the cement-carrying vessel Arel 7, which was determined to have passed through the accident area at the time of the incident, stated the following in his testimony: “Normally, the captain has an assistant. At that time, they had gone down for a meal. We had passed Marmara Island. It was around 17:00 when they went down to eat. My shift had started at 16:30. M.S. was with me as a lookout. Then they went down to eat. They went down to eat at 17:00. I had spoken with the company. Then suddenly I felt a jolt—I couldn’t understand it—I looked ahead, and there were two pieces to my right and left. I saw them as wooden fragments. I passed through the middle, but after moving forward a bit, I turned the ship around because I felt uneasy. At that moment, I saw a lifebuoy. I didn’t understand what the wooden pieces I saw to my right and left were. When I realized it had nothing to do with me, I continued on my way. After some time passed, I called the company official. I explained the situation. Then I said it had nothing to do with us. I said I was continuing on my way. Normally, in such cases, the Coast Guard is informed. But at that moment, with my state of mind, I couldn’t think of it. There were also 2-3 ships ahead of me. Since it was adrift in the middle of the sea, I thought it had nothing to do with us—I didn’t see or assume it was a boat. There was no collision whatsoever. We would have definitely noticed or heard the sound.”
