[imagesource: Newsflash]

We all lose ourselves occasionally, and it is good to go on a bit of a metaphorical search during those times.

But perhaps not physically, or while there’s a literal search party set up to find you.

If you can’t make out who that man is in the image above, that’s okay because neither could he.

The man accidentally joined a search party that was established with the aim of locating him. It took hours before he realised that he was the target of the rescue mission, reports VICE.

According to Turkish media outlets, 50-year-old Beyhan Mutlu lives in a rural district in the northwestern Bursa province and was reported missing on Tuesday.

He was out drinking with friends that evening before wandering into a nearby forest and didn’t return for a worrying amount of time.

This alarmed his friends and his wife, who couldn’t get a hold of him for several hours.

A search mission was then launched after they decided to contact the authorities for help:

Bursa’nın İnegöl ilçesinde, Beyhan Mutlu isimli şahıs, kendisi için başlatılan arama çalışmalarını başkası için zannederek saatlerce kendini aradı.

Ekipler, arama çalışmasıyla ilgili tutanak düzenleyip kayıp şahsı evine bıraktılar. pic.twitter.com/yhVaPSh7wY

— Vaziyet (@vaziyetcomtr) September 28, 2021

Beyhan then came across some of the rescue workers and decided to help them find the missing person.

Metro has more:

It was only when one person in the party later shouted out ‘Beyhan Mutlu’ that he replied with, ‘I’m here,’ and confused everyone present.

The authorities took a statement from him before driving him home, but he was concerned about getting into trouble with his family.

Beyhan reportedly told police: ‘Don’t punish me too harshly, officer. My father will kill me.’

It is not clear whether he was reprimanded for his behaviour.

How nobody recognised him sooner is not really clear.

Funnily enough, this is not the first time this sort of bizarre search party has occurred.

In 2012, an Asian tourist went missing in Iceland after she changed clothing in a train bathroom and came out, apparently, unrecognisable.

Her bus mates didn’t recognise her and she didn’t recognise her own description put out by the authorities. She then joined the group of around 50 people looking for herself.

Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, everyone noticed that she was the missing woman present all along.

There’s definitely a meme here. Go forth. folks. Please don’t disappoint.

[sources:metro&vice]