01.09.2026 15:40
The heartbreaking details have emerged about the 3 friends who lost their lives in a car that rolled down a 5-meter embankment in the Tortum district of Erzurum. 21-year-old Ahmet Emin Özçelik, 20-year-old Canpolat Kazır, and 18-year-old Yiğit Yalçın, who were involved in an accident on their way back after taking photographs at an engagement ceremony in Oltu, were bid farewell side by side on their final journey amidst tears.
The heartbreaking story of 3 friends who lost their lives when their car flew into a construction site and rolled into a ditch in the Tortum district of Erzurum has come to light. It was learned that the young men had an accident on their way back after completing video and photo shoots at an engagement ceremony in the Oltu district.
Ahmet Emin Özçelik (21), Canpolat Kazır (20), and Yiğit Yalçın (18), who were engaged in photography in Erzurum, went to the Oltu district on August 30 to do video and photo shoots for an engagement organization. After the shoots, the young group, who set off in the car with license plate 25 FD 007 driven by Ahmet Emin Özçelik to return to the city center, were not heard from again after stopping at a gas station around 11:30 PM.
THEY ROLLED INTO A 5-METER DITCH
Upon the report of their relatives, gendarmerie and AFAD teams launched a large-scale search operation in the area. As a result of the searches, the car was found overturned into a ditch in a construction site from a height of approximately 5 meters near the Aksukapı village of the Tortum district. In the examination by the teams, it was determined that the driver Ahmet Emin Özçelik and Canpolat Kazır had died at the scene. Yiğit Yalçın, found seriously injured at the very bottom of the vehicle, was extracted after a half-hour effort by the teams cutting open the trunk section. Yalçın, taken to Tortum State Hospital, could not be saved despite all the doctors' interventions.
"I HELD HIS HAND, I TOLD HIM I WAS THERE"
Yiğit Yalçın's uncle Saffet Uğraş, who heard about the accident and joined the search efforts, described the horrifying moments and his struggle to save his nephew with these words: "While returning from the engagement shoot in Oltu, there was no news from my nephew and his friends. Their last images were at a gas station in Oltu. Towards morning, when we got news that they couldn't be reached, I went over there with my car. Around 4:00 AM, we saw with AFAD that they had rolled into a ditch from the road. First the driver was pulled out of the car, then his other friend. Both had lost their lives. My nephew Yiğit was at the very bottom. He came to when he heard my voice. I held his hand and told him I was there. We cut open the trunk of the car and got him out after half an hour of effort. My nephew, whose pulse dropped while being taken to the hospital, passed away despite an hour of intervention."
FINAL FAREWELL SIDE BY SIDE AT THE PRAYER PLATFORM
A funeral ceremony was held for the 3 young people who lost their lives at the Narmanlı Mosque in Erzurum. At the ceremony attended by politicians and many citizens, the coffins of the 3 friends were placed side by side on the prayer platform. After the funeral prayer, the young people's bodies were laid to rest with tears at the Asri Cemetery.