ISTANBUL: Two daredevil climbers scaled a crane on Istanbul's newest bridge, taking a dizzying selfie from the top of the structure of the Bosphorus Straits and the clouds below.
Free climbers Pavel Smirnov and Ozcan Ipar made it to the top of the crane building the new Sultan Selim Yavuz bridge across the Bosphorus to a height of 350 metres (1,150 feet), according to video they released on Monday and published in Turkish media.
Using no specialised equipment or support ropes, they climbed to the very top of the crane above the bridge and promptly produced a selfie stick to capture the moment.
"The fact I climbed so high makes me feel free," Smirnov, the son of Russian parents, said in fluent Turkish on the video. "I did it and I am so proud."
"You feel different to everyone. You push the limit" said Ipar.
The two climbers said they faced no obstacle or security impediment when climbing the bridge and there was no suggestion they would face any legal consequences.
The Sultan Selim Yavuz bridge will be the third bridge for road traffic across the Bosphorus -- which divides Europe and Asia -- when it opens in the coming months.
It is one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's key infrastructure projects to be the face of what he calls the New Turkey.
Its naming after the sixteenth century Ottoman Sultan Selim I has been controversial -- Selim is known as "The Grim" for his harshness but his reign also saw the conquest of much of the Arab heartland by the Ottoman Empire.
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