Turkey earthquake: footballer Christian Atsu found dead after two weeks of search

Europe 1 with AFP 11:50 a.m., February 18, 2023

"Atsu's lifeless body was found under the rubble. His belongings are still being removed. His phone was also found," said Murat Uzunmehmet, his agent in Turkey, quoted by the Turkish private agency DHA, ending to almost two weeks of worry and research for the relatives of the 31-year-old footballer.

"It is with a heavy heart that I must announce to everyone (...) that the body of Christian Atsu was found this morning", for his part indicated on his Twitter account Nana Sechere, the Ghanaian agent of Atsu.

"I extend my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support," he added. 

According to Turkish media, the former Chelsea and Newcastle player in England was discovered under the rubble of the Rönesans residence, a 12-storey tower that collapsed in the earthquake.

"The Ghanaian Embassy in Turkey, which transmitted the sad news, indicates that the body was found early this morning," the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Tributes from Porto, Chelsea, Newcastle

"Christian Atsu's older brother and twin sister, as well as an embassy attaché, were present at the site when the body was recovered," the statement said.

The Ghanaian Embassy in Turkey and the Ghana Football Association initially claimed that the striker was found alive 24 hours after the earthquake, but this information was later proven to be false.

The developer of the luxury residence turned into a ruin, where 800 people are believed to be buried, was arrested last week as he tried to leave Turkey.

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Atsu was recruited last September by the Turkish club Hatayspor, based in the province of Hatay (south), near the epicenter of the violent earthquake which struck Turkey and Syria on February 6, far from Ghana, where he grew up in a family of ten children.

Trained in his native country in an academy of the Dutch club Feyenoord, the small 1.65m winger, who arrived at the age of 17 in Europe in 2011 at FC Porto, had quickly won over some of the biggest teams on the continent, arousing by his liveliness ball at the foot of the comparisons with Lionel Messi.

It was Chelsea who finally attracted him in 2013 but the London club immediately sent him on loan to Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands.

AFCON Best Player

Then tossed from club to club, Atsu, passed without convincing by Everton, Bournemouth, and Malaga, will not play in the end any official match under the colors of the Blues.

Loaned in 2016 to Newcastle, he was transferred there the following year for nearly eight million euros.

He scored only three goals in four seasons with the Magpies, before going into exile in Saudi Arabia by joining the team of Al-Raed, then Hatayaspor.

Several of his former clubs, including Porto, Chelsea and Newcastle, paid tribute to him on Saturday morning in a press release.

In the Ghana national team, Atsu, who is also involved in several charitable actions, will have had a much more accomplished career.

The player is thus selected for four editions of the African Cup of Nations.

He started in the final in 2015 against Côte d'Ivoire but was replaced in extra time, just before the Homeric penalty shootout lost by his team.

Designated best player of the CAN-2015, Atsu is retained in the standard team of the CAN in 2017. He is also traveling for the World Cup-2014 in Brazil where the Black Stars were eliminated in the first round.

Atsu leaves behind a widow and three orphaned children.