Istanbul court issues seizure warrant for ship that crashed into historical mansion

Dinçer Gökçe – ISTANBUL

An Istanbul court has issued a warrant for the seizure of a ship that crashed into a waterfront mansion on the Bosphorus on April 7. Videos showed the large ship sailing straight toward the Asian shores of Istanbul, hitting the red seaside mansion of Hekimbasi Salih Efendi, over the weekend. The vessel, which had a Maltese flag, was carrying barley from Russia to Saudi Arabia when technical malfunctions caused it to veer off course and slam into the historic mansion on the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul. The Bosphorus is one of the world's most important choke points for maritime oil transports, with more than 3 percent of global supply - mainly from Russia and the Caspian Sea - passing through the 17-mile waterway connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.
A court in Istanbul issues a warrant for the seizure of MV Vitaspirit, a Maltese tanker that crashed into a historic waterfront mansion on the Bosphorus on April 7, until the mansion's owners receive US$50 million.