Filo Jet's Black Box ‘Was Turned Off’ Days Before it Sank!

Defence lawyers accused police of conducting the investigation too slowly and raised the possibility of an assassination attempt. The court ordered the suspects to remain in custody for a further seven days.

Company director A.Ö., captain M.Ö., chief officer M.S., chief engineer Z.Ö., second engineer M.G. and crew members S.E., K.K., V.H. and R.İ. face charges of causing death through negligence and carelessness in connection with the shipwreck.

Black Box Stopped Recording on August 28

Police told the court that an examination of the vessel’s voyage data recorder (VDR), which stores navigation data and audio recordings, was ongoing. Initial findings indicated that the device had been switched off on August 28 and remained inactive until the day of the accident, leaving no recordings from August 30.

Earlier recordings reportedly included the statement, “This ship will not make it through the season.” The court also heard that the captain was required to notify the Harbour Master or another relevant official about the condition of the VDR but had failed to do so.

The device was located on the ship’s bridge and should have been switched on before the vessel set sail. Audio recordings indicated that some crew members had also entered the bridge.

Although warning signals from the device were visible on board while it was switched off, no recordings were made between August 28 and the day of the disaster. The court was told that the warnings were not transmitted to the Department of Ports and could only be seen on the bridge.

Police Assistant Superintendent Mehmet Mannaş, who presented the facts of the case, said the examination of the VDR had detected footsteps at around 8.30 pm on August 28, after which the device’s audio recording stopped. He confirmed that no recordings were available for August 30, when the shipwreck occurred.

The prosecution’s lawyer said the circumstances surrounding the device raised questions of direct responsibility and indicated that the findings could lead to additional charges.

Defence Raises Possibility of an “Assassination Attempt”

The defence lawyer said the VDR was recovered on September 25, sent to Turkey on September 30 and received by the Police General Directorate (PGM) on October 1.

Arguing that it should have been possible to establish that the device was switched off during the October 2 hearing, the lawyer criticised the failure to identify the situation earlier and accused the PGM of conducting the investigation extremely slowly. The lawyer also raised the possibility of an “assassination” attempt in connection with the case.

The defence said it had repeatedly asked police about issues they had previously undertaken to investigate, only to be told that “no answer has been given yet.”

Questions concerning the examination of the vessel’s damaged section, photographs and repair work remained unanswered, the lawyer said, adding that no satisfactory information had been provided despite the time elapsed since the August 30 disaster.

“Search and Rescue Teams Could Have Arrived Within Five or Six Minutes”

The defence lawyer said search and rescue teams could have reached the scene of the shipwreck within five or six minutes.

The lawyer also claimed that the company director had no knowledge of repairs carried out on the vessel’s damaged section or the products used during the work.

Accusing police of failing to conduct sufficient inquiries and allowing the investigation to progress too slowly, the lawyer argued that none of the suspects was responsible for the deaths.

The defence lawyer representing the second officer separately alleged that the suspects’ email passwords had been changed because of delays in the investigation. Police rejected the allegation but said they had been unable to access the email accounts.

The court ordered all the suspects to remain in custody for a further seven days.