Rescuers recovered another body from the ferry tragedy that occurred off northern Cyprus in late August, raising the death toll to 19 with nine people still missing, officials said Saturday.
The update came in a statement from the office of Unal Ustel, prime minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara, the official TAK news agency said.
The crowded "Filo Jet" ferry carrying 267 people capsized on August 30 shortly after leaving the port of Kyrenia in the north of the divided island.
Rescuers pulled 239 people to safety but eight others died, triggering a huge operation to find 20 missing people.
Search efforts have continued ever since with expert crews searching in and around the wreckage which is lying at a depth of 514 metres (1,686 feet).
On September 25, Ustel said rescuers had found the ferry's voyage data recorder (VDR) -- its "black box" -- which had been handed to the police for examination, with its data expected to give a clearer indication of what caused the tragedy.
He said efforts to search the wreckage had been completed, but efforts to find those still missing would continue.
Within hours of the tragedy, police arrested nine people on suspicion of death through negligence, among them ferry captain Mustafa Oz, seven crew members and a director of Filo Denizcilik, the ferry's operator.
All nine were back in court in Kyrenia on Friday for a hearing at which their remand in custody was extended for another seven days, the Kibris Postasi news website said.
At the hearing, police told the court the VDR had been handed to the Turkish authorities on September 30 and that the data stored on it had been transferred to a drive then nd returned to them but said analysing it would take some time.
Investigators said they had also received an expert report that described the repairs previously carried out on the ferry as "superficial, inadequate and unacceptable".
They had also discovered the vessel's watertight doors hadn't been properly closed before departure, the news site said.