200-YEAR-OLD MANSION HIT: Tourist Ferry Smashes Yacht And Historic Istanbul Mansion Pier
Gallery
Videos
A relaxing nighttime tourist cruise on Istanbul's Bosphorus turned into a scene of chaos on October 6, when a passenger ferry veered toward the Asian shore in Kandilli at around 10:20 p.m. Security cameras show the vessel racing toward the waterfront, slamming into a moored yacht, and then plowing through the railings of the private pier belonging to the Kazasker Necmettin Efendi Mansion, a historic home that is nearly 200 years old. The footage reportedly ends with the ferry backing away from the wreckage and returning to the water. Remarkably, no one was injured, but the pier and the property were badly damaged.
Mansion owner Derin Mermerci posted similar clips on Instagram, saying children were inside the house during the crash and were terrified, and that her dock was destroyed. She says she spoke with the ferry's captain afterward and plans to take legal action, and Turkish media report that police and coast guard teams reached the scene quickly. The crash has also revived attention on her comments from earlier this year, when she said life in a Bosphorus mansion is nothing but trouble. So far, no explanation has been reported for why the ferry veered off course, leaving a big question hanging over tourist cruises on one of the world's busiest waterways. Whether the operator is held responsible may now be decided in court.