A two-seat M20J type single-engine jet aircraft piloted by Mehmet Demirci crashed near the border area of Bayburt, Erzurum, and Rize provinces in Turkey on July 2, 2025. The aircraft took off from Sivrihisar, Eskişehir, heading to Rize and was part of a planned world tour with stops at 32 airports. The crash occurred near the summit of the Kaçkar Mountains. Rescue teams, including AFAD, health, and search and rescue units from Bayburt, Erzurum, and Rize, were dispatched to the scene. Initial contact was lost after the plane struck a mountain, and the pilot and passenger Hicran Kaya made a distress call indicating they were in critical condition. The wreckage was located by Jandarma Komando (JAK) teams, and rescue operations continued through the night and into the following days. Tragically, pilot Mehmet Demirci was found deceased at the crash site, while passenger Hicran Kaya was rescued alive and transported by military helicopter to Erzurum City Hospital for treatment. The incident drew attention due to Demirci's world tour and the challenging mountainous terrain where the crash occurred. Authorities, including Rize Governor İhsan Selim Baydaş, confirmed the pilot's death and the passenger's survival. Footage of the rescue and wreckage has been released, showing the difficult conditions of the recovery effort.