>
Christian Atsu collapsed from the ninth floor of his apartment building as the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, his agent has revealed.
Atsu was rescued from under the rubble on Tuesday when a rescue team heard his voice on a recovery mission.
Now, his agent has explained how, 20 minutes after returning home from a night of poker with his teammates, Atsu fell to the ground from the ninth floor.
The last I heard from him was at midnight on Sunday. Christian and his teammates were playing poker until 3:30 am at a friend’s apartment,” Atsu’s agent Nana Sechere said. mirror.
‘The drive back to his apartment was about half an hour. He came back at 4 am and the earthquake started about 20 minutes later. I didn’t know anything until I got a call from a club official at 5 in the morning asking if I had heard from Christian. He told me that Christian’s building had been completely destroyed and they couldn’t locate him.
The moment when Christian Atsu’s building (left) collapsed under an earthquake has been detailed.
Turkey and Syria have been devastated by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, with a balance of 9,700 deaths
Footage from a rescue mission claimed that Atsu’s voice could be heard as he approached.
Sechere, who is in London and not Turkey with the player, added: “I was hoping that he was awake and that the earthquake had not happened while he was sleeping.”
‘I was in an 11-story building and I was on the ninth floor. Club officials were trying to help me find him, but it was very difficult because, understandably, they were also trying to find his own friends and family.”
The former Chelsea and Newcastle player is in ‘stable’ condition in hospital but has yet to contact his agent after losing access to his mobile phone.
Atsu was in action for Hatayspor on Sunday, scoring a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time in a 1-0 win over Kasimpasa.
In a message after the game, he wrote: ‘Important victory for the team. Happy to be on the record.
The earthquake hit hard in Kahramanmaras, where Hatayspor is based.
The death toll from the deadliest quake in a decade has passed 9,600, with fears that the final total will be significantly higher.
Images shared on social media by Ajansspor showed a rescue team in the village of Ekinci in the Adıyaman district.
Atsu, pictured playing for Chelsea in 2016, is said to have fallen from his ninth floor.
Atsu’s most recent Twitter post followed his club’s 1-0 victory on Sunday in which the 31-year-old scored the game-winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time.
In the video it is stated that the voices of Atsu and sports director Taner Savut can be heard.
turkish newspaper hurry up He detailed Tuesday that there is an anxious wait to rescue Savut, the sports director, with rescue teams navigating the rubble.
Hatayspor players Burak Oksuz, Kerem Alici and Onur Ergun, as well as team officials Ekrem Eksioglu and Osman Ates, were rescued from the rubble on the first day, it was reported.
Atsu was part of the Newcastle team that won promotion to the Premier League in 2017 after joining Chelsea on a season loan, later completing a permanent move. He has also won 65 caps for Ghana.
The Ghana Football Association said on Tuesday: “We have received positive news that Christian Atsu has been successfully rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building and is receiving treatment.” Let’s keep praying for Christian.
In response to the GFA’s Tweet, Newcastle said: ‘Welcome news. Our thoughts are with Christian, his loved ones and all those affected by Monday’s devastating earthquakes.
Hatayspor player Onur Ergun posted an Instagram story in response to earlier reports that he was missing to say were incorrect.
Tremors from the deadly earthquake were felt in Egypt, Lebanon and the island of Cyprus, and authorities in Italy briefly issued a tsunami warning along the country’s coast.
Pictured: An aerial image taken by a drone Wednesday morning shows the scale of destruction in a neighborhood of Hatay, Turkey, near the Syrian border.
“Thank you very much to everyone who called and asked,” said the midfielder. ‘The news is not true. I’m fine.
‘I can’t answer the phone because there is a network problem. Get well soon for all of us.
Former Turkey international and Hatayspor manager Volkan Demirel broke down in tears on social media as he implored the world to help his homeland after Sunday’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake.
Demirel, who made 63 caps for Turkey during his international career, took to Instagram in a live video on Monday morning to plead for support.
‘Aid! I want you to send all the resources you have to the environmentalist. It’s not just about Hatay and Antakya,’ Demirel pleaded.
‘Please, I ask you. Please, for God’s sake, people are dying here. For the love of God…’
Despite beginning the video in a relatively serene manner, Demirel was soon in tears as she pleaded for help, appropriately capturing the pain and anguish her nation is experiencing in the aftermath of the earthquake.
The Hatayspor coach’s wife, Demirel, shared a tearful message after a massive aftershock with a magnitude of 7.5 struck southern Turkey hours after the original quake.
‘Hatay is very bad’, Zeynep Sever Demirel he said in a video shared on social media.