Ghana soccer player Christian Atsu dies in Turkey earthquake

Ankara: Christian Atsu, the Ghana international forward who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, has died in the earthquake in Turkey. He was 31.

Search teams recovered Atsu’s body in the ruins of a luxury 12-storey building where he had been living in the city of Antakya, Hatay province, his manager said Saturday.

“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. At the moment, his belongings are still being removed,” manager Murat Uzunmehmet told private news agency DHA.

Atsu joined Turkish club Hatayspor in September and scored the winning goal for his new team in a league game at home against Kasimpaşa SK on February 5, just hours before the earthquake struck in the pre-dawn hours.

Antakya, the city where Hatayspor is based, is in the southern region of Turkey hardest hit by the earthquake.

The death toll from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria passed 43,000 on Friday.

Hatayspor said Atsu’s body was being repatriated to Ghana. “There are no words to describe our sadness,” the club tweeted.

A day after the earthquake there were reports that Atsu had been rescued.

Hatayspor, after initially announcing that it had received information that Atsu was alive and on his way to the hospital, said later that the reports of a successful rescue were, heartbreakingly, mistaken and the player was still missing.

SOURCE: AP