The story about Kumiko Tsuchida was reported in The Times and The Guardian in June 1997. But do you really think it is true?
It's a bit incredible but it's possible. May be Kumiko Tsuchida didn't speak any English and she was disoriented. It's difficult to happen but if she was quite disoriented ans she didn't know how long it takes a journey to Turkey.
I have never lived an experience like that but it's easy to do a mistake when you don't speak correctly a language. There are some words with a very different meaning but they sound exacly the same, this happen with the word live or leave.