New Delhi, Sept. 2 -- Survivors of a ferry disaster off the coast of northern Cyprus that killed at least eight people described on Monday the moments of terror as they scrambled to escape the sinking vessel.

The passengers spoke as rescue teams searched for 20 people missing since the ship carrying 267 passengers and crew capsized after leaving Kyrenia, a port in breakaway northern Cyprus, for Tasucu in Turkey on Sunday afternoon. Authorities had earlier said 18 were missing.

Among those unaccounted for were a 12-year-old girl and her brother, 6. "My daughter slipped from my grasp. She was holding my hand. The suitcase fell, she slipped from my hand," their mother, Ayten Bicer, 35, told Turkey's DHA news agency.

Serkan Kunduraci, who ...