Christian Atsu has been found alive following reports that he was ‘trapped’ after an earthquake in Turkey.
The 31-year-old, who played for both Chelsea and Newcastle during his time in the Premier League, was caught up in the 7.7 magnitude earthquake which occurred on Monday.
Portuguese outlet A Bola have reported that Atsu has now been rescued from the rubble and has been transported to hospital after suffering injuries to his right foot and breathing difficulties.
Journalist Saddick Adams claimed he had been in contact with Atsu’s management team and confirmed the winger was safe. Adams had earlier tweeted that Atsu “was on the 9th floor of the collapsed building with 9 other players and 2 officials. 3 players and one official have been rescued. Officials of the club are at the site as search continues.”
Other footballers, including Onur Ergun and Burak Oksuz, were rescued following the incident. Two other team-mates of Atsu, Ruben Ribeiro and Ze Luis, are also safe, while Kerim Alici managed to free himself from the rubble.
Atsu, who joined Chelsea as a youngster back in 2013 after leaving Porto, also had spells with a number of other top-flight clubs including Everton and Bournemouth before moving to St James’ Park.
He joined Hatayspor in the summer and scored his first goal for the club on Sunday night – just hours before the disaster which has devastated Turkey.
It has been reported that at least 2,800 people have lost their lives following the incident with over 12,000 more believed to be injured across Turkey and Syria. A massive aftershock with a magnitude of 7.5 hit the south of Turkey just hours after the original quake. Reports say it was felt once again in Syria and also Iraqi Kurdistan.
Other sports stars have also been affected by the earthquake, with Olympic champion wrestler Taha Akgul issuing a desperate plea for “urgent help” on his social media account.
Akgul, who won gold in the 2016 Olympics and a Bronze medal four years later, said on his Instagram story, Akgul wrote: “The building where 30-40 of our wrestlers stay in the wrestling club in Kahramanmaraş has also been demolished… Our athletes are under the rubble. We are waiting for urgent help. Help me, my God!”
Speaking at a press conference, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the earthquake was the country’s “largest disaster” since another major earthquake back in 1939.
“Everyone is putting their heart and soul into efforts, although the winter season, cold weather and the earthquake happening during the night make things more difficult,” Erdogan told reporters on Monday.
“We do not know how high the casualty numbers will go as efforts to lift the debris continue in several buildings in the earthquake zone. Today is a day for 85 million to be together as one heart.”
