3 young girls who lost their lives in the fatal accident in Rize were laid to rest, reaction from families to social media

Gamze Saklı, Nilay Bilgin and Selinay Saral, who lost their lives in the tragic traffic accident that occurred on the night of Tuesday, June 23 in the Çayeli district of Rize, were buried amidst tears. While the death of these three friends, who passed away at a young age, caused deep sorrow for their families and loved ones, the mourning process became official with the burial of the funerals. While the families of the three friends experienced the pain of saying goodbye to their children, they also began to face an additional distress stemming from the discussions taking place in the public and on social media. As the repercussions of the incident continued, the grieving families reacted harshly to the posts made on social media platforms and the allegations raised, displaying a stance against the situation.

Fethi Bilgin, the cousin of Nilay Bilgin, who evaluated the details of the accident and the chaos experienced in the subsequent process, stated that the images shared from the scene and the endless comments caused great harm to the families. Fethi Bilgin, who was in the car at the time of the accident and witnessed it, recounted that the 4 friends sat in the park on the coast of Çayeli district for a while before the accident, then set off towards Rize and the accident occurred during this time. However, the part that drew the most reaction was the unconscionable sharing of images regarding the moment of the accident on social media and accusatory comments made by people with no knowledge of the matter, full of falsehoods. Bilgin emphasized that this situation compounded the families' pain and that a mother and father who lost their children suffered a second trauma due to these disrespectful comments.

A voice recording circulating on social media, which was alleged to be a conversation between the police, also emerged as another important detail occupying the families and the public. Fethi Bilgin, suspecting that this voice recording, which arrived on his mobile phone before taking the bodies from the Forensic Medicine Institute, was intended to defame the police, took the matter to the Police Department. Upon examination, it was determined that the voice recording in question had no connection with the police, but was a recording made by a passerby to tell the incident to his friends and to show off. The circulation of this false record both served those who wanted to create an unfair perception against the law enforcement and caused the families to be forced to deal with technical details before they could even reach their funerals.

Expressing that a very grave picture emerged in terms of social sensitivity and morality during this process, Fethi Bilgin made harsh criticisms. Questioning how much a person's work could be over, Bilgin condemned the fact that a person passing by at the time of the accident shot a video and made it a source of pride on social media. The fact that everyone, knowledgeable or not, expressed opinions on the subject and made comments that would deepen the families' pain further negatively affected the family's psychological state. The families are in an uproar that such events should be handled not just for the sake of media attention and clicks, but within the framework of humanity and moral values.

On the other hand, the speculations on social media immediately following the incident and the unfounded allegations of police negligence were denied and eliminated by the authorities. In official statements, it was shared that the voice recording was not related to the police teams, but was recorded due to a civilian's personal panic and did not reflect the truth. Although this development alleviated some of the stress experienced by the families while receiving their funerals, it once again revealed the fact that social media usage and digital ethics need to be questioned. While the people of Rize and loved ones wished that this tragic event, in which three young girls lost their lives, would not happen again, they called on social media users to act more sensitively and respectfully in similar situations.