Tourists taking pictures of the Bosphorus captured dramatic scenes on Saturday as a cargo vessel collided into an 18th-century villa. The accident forced all commercial traffic in the strait to be suspended.
More than fifty thousand vessels sail through the Bosphorus Strait each year. Saturday’s accident occurred in the narrowest and deepest part.
But Turkey’s now in the process of building a second commercial waterway called the Istanbul Canal. It’s scheduled to open in 2023.
Authorities say the main objective of the new canal is to reduce risks posed by ships carrying dangerous materials, as they pass through the Bosphorus.
Though, for now, the focus will be on how the vessel’s engine failed and how a similar accident can be avoided, the significance of a second strait remains.
TRT World’s Joseph Hayat reports from Istanbul.
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