A celebrated Turkish surgeon, considered among the few experts in knee and hip prosthesis and scoliosis surgery, died in a motorcycle accident in Bulgaria, shocking the medical community.

Professor Can Solakoğlu embarked on a motorcycle tour across Bulgaria and Greece with a group of friends to spend the Ramadan Bayram (Eid al-Fitr) holiday.

Solakoğlu died in a traffic accident Saturday as the group was traveling from Bulgaria to the Greek town of Alexandropouli (Dedeağaç) near the border with Turkey.

The 55-year-old surgeon had previously been in another motorcycle accident in 2008, suffering injuries to his left hand. After the 2008 accident, he took a break from riding motorcycles until 2015, when he resumed touring upon the insistence of his doctor friends.

A funeral ceremony will be held for Solakoğlu Wednesday at the Maltepe University, where he was a faculty member in the Faculty of Medicine. His funeral prayer will be held at the Grand Selimiye Mosque and he will be interred at the Karacaahmet Cemetery.

Solakoğlu leaves behind a wife and two children.