In Turkey, there is uncertainty about the safety of footballer Christian Atsu.

Date:

Christian Atsu, a Ghanaian winger, is still missing in Turkey after devastating earthquakes struck the country and Syria, according to his club, despite earlier reports that he had been rescued.

Following Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its aftershocks, Atsu, 31, was reported to have been pulled alive from the rubble of a building in Turkey’s southern Hatay province and transported to hospital with injuries on Tuesday.

But on Wednesday, Hatayspor coach Volkan Demirel said the search for Atsu was continuing.

“There is no information on his whereabouts yet, we don’t know where he is,” Demirel told the Reuters news agency. “It’s not the case that he was pulled out or taken anywhere else.”

On Tuesday, club vice president Mustafa Ozat told Turkish media that Atsu had been rescued and that the club’s sporting director, Taner Savut, remained under the rubble.

However, Hatayspor’s doctor Gurbey Kahveci told Turkish media on Wednesday that they could not locate Atsu or Savut.

“[The club was told Atsu] ‘was taken to Dortyol Hospital’, and when the news came, we went and looked, but he is not there,” Kahveci said.

“Unfortunately, we accept that Taner and Christian Atsu have not been found at the moment.”

Atsu’s image agent Gaynor Frascione said she was worried about her client.

“Everyone is trying to locate in which medical centre he could be,” she told the AFP news agency.

“We don’t know [if he’s still alive]. There were also 18 Ghanaian students in this building, the ambassador for Turkey said he was rescued, a doctor made a statement, but it’s complete mayhem,” she added.

Atsu, 31, spent four seasons at Chelsea before a permanent transfer to Newcastle in 2017. He signed in September for Turkish Super Lig side Hatayspor, based in Hatay, near the epicentre of the earthquake.

He wore the last of his 60 Ghana national caps in September 2019.

Dozens of nations have offered aid since the earthquake hit with freezing weather hampering emergency efforts. The latest estimate of the death toll in Turkey and Syria is more than 16,000.

The Turkish Football Federation announced in the wake of the earthquake that all club games had been postponed indefinitely.

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

Election 2024: Mahama promises Agricultural University for Afram Plains.

Former President and flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress...

GFA dissolves Black Stars management committee apologises for inability to qualify for AFCON.

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has apologised for the...

CBG records GHS1bn revenue in third quarter of 2024.

The Consolidated Bank Ghana Ltd. (CBG), has recorded GHS1...

Mahama failed to provide chalk, NPP is supplying laptops to students – Bawumia.

New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has...

More like this
Related