A bizarre yet humorous incident that quickly spread across social media happened in 2021 in the town of İnegöl, located in Bursa province, Turkey. A 50-year-old man named Beyhan Mutlu unknowingly joined a search party looking for himself.
One evening, Mutlu had been drinking with friends in the woods near his village. After some time, he wandered off alone and didn’t return home. When his wife and friends realized he was missing and could not be reached, they alerted the local police and reported him as a missing person.
Local authorities immediately organized a search-and-rescue team to find the missing man. Dozens of volunteers joined the search operation in the dark woods. Ironically, Mutlu, who had fallen asleep in a hut in the forest, woke up, noticed a search party, and decided to help them look for the “missing man” — without realizing they were actually looking for him.
The group spent hours combing through the forest at night. At one point, the volunteers began shouting the missing man’s name loudly into the darkness: “Beyhan Mutlu! Beyhan Mutlu!”
After hearing his name called repeatedly, Mutlu became confused and reportedly asked the group:
“Who are we looking for? I’m here.”
The rescuers were stunned. After a brief moment of disbelief, they confirmed his identity. The police then took Mutlu aside for questioning to make sure he was not in any danger and that there were no misunderstandings.
Fortunately, no one was harmed, and the incident ended on a positive — and rather comical — note. The story later went viral across Turkish and international media, serving as an unusual reminder that sometimes you can be looking for something that is right there with you all along.
📰 Source:
This quirky story was originally reported by JOQ Albania, who highlighted it as one of the most unusual cases of “missing person” searches in recent years