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2023.02.08 01:20 GMT+8

Christian Atsu still missing after Türkiye earthquake despite claims he'd been found

Updated 2023.02.09 00:22 GMT+8
CGTN

The Ghanian footballer Christian Atsu joined Turkish side Hatayspor in 2022. /Ozan Kose/AFP

Football player Christian Atsu is still missing after two devastating earthquakes struck Türkiye and Syria, despite earlier suggestions he had been found alive in the rubble. The former English Premier League player was reported on Tuesday to have been rescued and transported to hospital after surviving a plunge from the ninth floor of a building "completely destroyed" by the earthquake.

However, the manager of his team Hatayspor, Volkan Demirel, said this was not the case. 

"There is no information on his whereabouts yet, we don't know where he is," Demirel said. "It's not the case that he was pulled out or taken anywhere else." The search for Atsu is ongoing, he added.

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The Ghanaian international joined Hatayspor in September of last year, after nearly a decade at English clubs Chelsea and Newcastle United. The 31-year-old had reportedly been enjoying his team's win on Sunday night, having scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Kasimpasa, when the earthquake struck.

More than 11,000 people in southern Türkiye and northern Syria are now known to have died in the quakes. Atsu's agent confirmed that the player was still missing despite the earlier reports.

"Following yesterdays update from the club that Christian had been pulled out alive, we are yet to confirm Christian's whereabouts," agent Nana Sechere wrote on Twitter. "As you can imagine, this continues to be a devastating time for his family and we are doing everything we can to locate Christian."

Atsu has earned 65 international caps and scored nine goals for Ghana and represented his country in the 2014 World Cup.

Source(s): Reuters
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