Dilek Erteka wealthy 71-year-old Turkish distributor for luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co., fell to the death of a Norwegian cruise ship on October 26 under mysterious circumstances, Daily mail reported on Tuesday.
Her body has yet to be recovered, and experts are said to be baffled by the question of how the Ertek 5’2” could have fallen on a 3-foot-tall guardrail. on the boat into the South Pacific off the coast of Tahiti. Her son, Gokce Atuk, said the jewelry was missing in the safe in his mother’s cabin, Letters reported.
Ertek was celebrating her birthday aboard the Norwegian Spirit while on vacation in the South China Sea with a partner at the time of her death.
According to Turkish news source Hürriyet Daily NewsCCTV footage from the cruise ship shows Ertek falling from the ocean liner around 3am on the 26th. Her 74-year-old partner did not report her disappearance until 20 hours later, leaving the crew behind. had to keep an eye on the unnamed Swiss man until the ship docked in Tahiti three days later, Hürriyet Daily News reported.
“The balcony is made entirely of glass and has a railing. Their height easily reached the chest of a medium-sized person.“
– Unnamed ship officer
Ertek’s partner is next being questioned by the Tahiti police before finally being released due to lack of evidence, Daily mail report, and Ertek’s attorney is now file a lawsuit against the cruise ship operator, as well as arguing that it was the responsibility of the country of Tahiti to continue directing the investigation into the circumstances of her death.
According to Turkish news agency Sabah, an unnamed officer working on the Norwegian Spirit Cruise ship spoke out about Ertek’s death on social networks. “Safety on board is a really important issue,” the officer said. “Preventive measures are considered right from the shipbuilding stage. The balcony is made entirely of glass and has a railing. Their height easily reached the chest of a medium-sized person. It is impossible to fall. It takes effort to jump because it’s not easy to put your feet up. [the balcony]. You must continue [a] chair. It is also unlikely that someone who is drunk will fall.”
Ertek is said to have started building her fortune in 1995 when she opened the Tiffany & Co. first in Istanbul, Turkey and continues to be the main distributor of the brand’s luxury jewelry in its home country for more than two decades.
The Daily Beast contacted Tiffany & Co. and Norwegian Spirit for comment.
