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Former Chelsea and Newcastle player Christian Atsu’s club say CANNOT FIND him at the hospital he was ‘taken’ to amid fears the footballer was NOT among those in the rubble of collapsed buildings in Turkey.
Former Chelsea and Newcastle player Christian Atsu’s club say they cannot find him at the hospital where he was reportedly taken.
Atsu, who plays for Hatayspor, is believed to have been rescued from a destroyed building following a magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
In fact, the club’s vice president, Mustafa Ozat, had confirmed that Atsu came out of the rubble with injuries.
However, according to Hurriyet, it is feared that the Hatayspor footballer was not among those found in the rubble.
Hatayspor’s club doctor Gurbey Kahveci said: “When we heard the news that he was taken to Dortyol Hospital, we specially went and searched, but he was not there.”
Christian Atsu’s club Hatayspor say they cannot find him at the hospital where he was reportedly taken afterwards.
The former Chelsea and Newcastle player is believed to have been recovered from the rubble of a destroyed building
‘For the moment we accept that Savut Taner [sporting director] and Christian Atsu were unfortunately not found.
The devastating event has seen the death toll reach 11,000, making it the deadliest earthquake in a decade.
Atsu’s agent, Nana Sechere, also revealed the player’s location is unknown, tweeting: “Following yesterday’s update from the club that Christian has been brought out alive, we have yet to confirm Christian’s whereabouts.”
“As you can imagine, this continues to be a devastating time for his family and we are doing everything we can to locate Christian.”
It comes after Atsu’s teammate Kerim Alici, a close friend, confirmed on Turkish television that the player had been rescued alive, leading to further confusion as to whether the player had been found.
Atsu’s agent Sechere, who is in London and not Turkey with the player, has also revealed that the 31-year-old had collapsed from the ninth floor of his apartment building when the devastating earthquake struck.
He explained that 20 minutes after returning home from a night of poker with his teammates, Atsu fell to the ground.
The last I heard from him was at midnight on Sunday. Christian and his teammates were playing poker until 3:30am at a friend’s apartment,” Atsu’s agent Nana Sechere told the 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.”
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.
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.
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