News reports indicated that Ghanaian Christian Atsu, a professional in the Turkish Hatayspor team, was among those trapped under the rubble of the earthquake that struck the region today, with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale.
Reports indicated that Atsu was stuck under the rubble of a building, without knowing his fate until now.
Atsu, 31, previously played for Porto, Chelsea, Everton, Bournemouth and Newcastle United in England and the Saudi pioneer before moving to Hatayspor at the start of the current season.
Atsu gave his team 3 valuable points after scoring the winning goal against Kasimpasa with a direct free kick in the match that ended with Hatay's victory with a clean goal.
Ghanaian player Christian Atsu scored yesterday the winning goal for his Turkish team Hatayspor in the last breath of the match and in this wonderful way, today he is stuck under the rubble of an unknown fate 🙏 #Turkey #Syria #Turkey_Syria earthquake pic.twitter.com/HI4MayY423
- Elhoussaine Boussaid (@BoussidHoussine) February 6, 2023
According to Turkish media, there are a number of athletes under the rubble of collapsed buildings due to the earthquake.
Two players and members of the Hatay club's technical team were pulled from the rubble, and efforts are still underway to find the Ghanaian player as soon as possible.
In the context, Ahmed Ayoub Turkslan, the Turkish goalkeeper of Malatyaspor, was killed in the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria.
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Turkish media reported that Turkslan, 28, was missing while his wife was rescued.
In Syria, the former Syrian international, Nader Jokhadar, 45, was killed in the collapse of the building in which he lived in the coastal city of Jableh, according to the Syrian Football Association.
The Federation wrote - on its official account on Facebook - "The Syrian Arab Football Federation extends its deepest condolences to the family of the former Syrian national team star, Nader Jokhadar, and to the families of the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck the country at dawn on Monday, and wishes a speedy recovery to all the injured."
Jokhadar, who was active in the offensive line, played with the Syrian Al-Wathba Club, then played professionally with Al-Faisaly and the Jordanian Al-Wehdat until he announced his retirement in 2008.