08 Oct 2021; MEMO: A drunken Turkish man spent hours combing through the forest in search of a missing person, only to discover the search team had been looking for him.
Last Tuesday, construction worker Beyhan Mutlu, 50, was reported missing after getting drunk on a night out and wandering into the forest.
After his worried wife was unable to reach him on his mobile phone and he didn't return home, she called the police.
It turned out Mutlu's friends had lost him after he had walked off into the forest.
A search party was immediately formed of volunteers and emergency services, and eventually Mutlu himself.
Mutlu reportedly spent hours unwittingly combing the forest for a missing person in the dark with his own search and rescue party.
It wasn't until much later that Mutlu realised that he was involved in an extensive search for himself.
A would-be rescue volunteer called out his name, to which he replied. "Who are we looking for? I'm here."
Mutlu spoke to the Daily Sabah, referring to the incident as 'like a joke'.
He told the Daily Sabah: "When one of my friends couldn't find me, he reported me as missing to the gendarmerie. There really was no need for that."
"I had changed my phone. That's why the gendarmerie could not reach me when they called. I woke up at around 5 a.m. I thought there was an accident on the road. I saw the search party looking for a missing person. I also took part in the search."
"Then they called my name, 'Beyhan Mutlu'. I said, 'Oh, that's me.'"
He continued: "Basically, I'm paying for my friends' mistakes. What happened is all like a joke," he lamented.
After taking his statement, authorities gave Mutlu a ride home.
