Christian Atsu Still Missing – Turkish Club

Sports Recorder
February 9, 2023

Christian Atsu, a winger from Ghana, is still missing in Turkey after massive earthquakes hit Syria and Turkey, his club told news agencies. Earlier reports said that he had been saved.

On Tuesday, it was said that Atsu, who is 31 years old, was pulled alive from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish province of Hatay and taken to the hospital with injuries from Monday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its aftershocks.

But Hatayspor’s coach Volkan Demirel said on Wednesday that the search for Atsu was still going on.

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

Mustafa Ozat, the club’s vice president, told Turkish media on Tuesday that Atsu had been saved but that the club’s sports director, Taner Savut, was still trapped under the rubble.

But Hatayspor’s doctor, Gurbey Kahveci, told Turkish news outlets on Wednesday that neither Atsu nor Savut could be found.

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

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

Gaynor Frascione, in charge of Atsu’s image, said she was worried about her client.

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

“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 said.

Atsu, who is 31 years old, played for Chelsea for four years before moving permanently to Newcastle in 2017. He joined the Turkish Super Lig team Hatayspor in September. The team is based in Hatay, close to where the earthquake hit.

In September 2019, he wore the 60th and last cap for the Ghana national team.

Dozens of countries have offered help since the earthquake, but the cold weather makes it hard to help. The number of people who have died in Turkey and Syria is now thought to be more than 16,000.

After the earthquake, the Turkish Football Federation said all club games would be postponed until further notice.