Christian Atsu ‘remains missing’, teammate says, amid reports he was pulled from rubble of Turkey earthquake
FORMER Chelsea star Christian Atsu is still missing after becoming trapped under rubble in a huge earthquake, his teammate claims.
It is understood the dad was on the ninth floor of an apartment block when two earthquakes rocked Turkey on Monday, devastating at least 12 cities and killing thousands.
Rescuers are desperately trying to find Ghana star Atsu after he was caught up in the first powerful 7.8 magnitude quake.
Several members of his new team had to be rescued from their homes after the earthquake struck at 4am local time.
But Atsu, 31, and Hatayspor’s sporting director Taner Savut were reported missing under rubble.
Reports claimed Atsu had been found early in the evening, but these were dismissed by Hatayspor manager Mustafa Ozat.
His Hatayspor teammate Kerim Alici also appeared to suggest in an Instagram story posted that Atsu and Savut remained missing.
Atsu, who has three kids with wife Marie-Claire, plays for Hatayspor, who he joined last summer.
The earthquake hit hard in Kahramanmaras, where Hatayspor are based.
Earlier in the evening, Ozat said: “All members of the playing body and staff are accounted for, except Christian Atsu and Taner Savut, who are still under the rubber.
“We are still trying to reach them.”
Newcastle and Chelsea are anxiously awaiting news of their former player.
A post on Newcastle’s official Twitter account said: “Praying for some positive news, @ChristianAtsu20.”
While Chelsea tweeted: “We’re praying for you, Christian Atsu.”
Atsu, who scored deep into stoppage time on Saturday to secure a 1-0 win over Kasimpasa, left St James’ Park during the summer of 2021 after making 121 appearances for the club.
He joined Chelsea from Porto for £3.5million in 2013 but didn’t make a single appearance for the Premier League giants.
Atsu took in loans at Vitesse, Everton, Bournemouth, Malaga and Newcastle.
And the Magpies made his deal permanent in 2017 after Atsu played a key role in their promotion from the Championship.
The ace ended up making 86 appearances for Newcastle before joining Al-Raed in 2021.
Atsu moved to Hatayspor last summer and has one goal in four games for the Turks.
It comes as many thousands are feared dead after two “once-in-a-century” earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria today.
A massive 7.8 magnitude shock – one of the biggest for 100 years – was followed hours later by another huge 7.5 magnitude quake.
Frantic survivors used their bare hands to dig through the rubble of flattened homes and were filmed pulling children to safety amid scenes of utter destruction.
The twin earthquakes also sparked tsunami alerts on Mediterranean coasts in Greece, Cyprus and Italy, and shaking was felt as far away as Egypt and Iran.
By night time the confirmed death toll was over 3,700 – but the WHO has warned the total could rocket to more than 20,000 as rescuers find more victims in the rubble.
Most victims were asleep when the initial mega quake hit at 4am local time.
The 7.8 shock was the biggest in Turkey for “hundreds of years”, geophysics professor Martin Mai told the BBC.
It struck near Gaziantep in eastern Turkey at a depth of around 15 miles.
It was followed by dozens of powerful aftershocks which toppled already damaged buildings in great heaps of dust.
Then just before 1.30pm a second massive quake of magnitude 7.5 sent terrified locals running into the streets.
Videos showed buildings collapse as rescue workers fled for their lives amid dust and chaos.
The second quake – which was just six miles deep with an epicentre 59 miles north of the first – would itself have been the region’s most powerful since 1999.
An official from Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority said it was “not an aftershock” and was “independent” from the earlier quake.
Earthquake experts said it lay on a separate fault line but would almost certainly have been triggered by the initial shock.
