Ghana soccer player Christian Atsu dies at 31 in Turkey earthquake

Christian Atsu, a Ghanaian international striker who played for Premier League clubs Chelsea and Newcastle, was killed in an earthquake in Turkey. He is 31 years old.

A search team recovered Atsu’s body from the ruins of the 12-story luxury building where he lived in Antakya city, Hatay province, his manager said Saturday.

“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. At the moment, his belongings are still being removed,” manager Murat Uzunmehmet told private news agency DHA.

Atsu joined Turkish club Hatayspor in September and scored the winning goal for his new team in a league match at home against Kasımpaşa on 5 February, just hours before the earthquake struck in the early hours of 6 February.

Atsu is Canadian international Sam Adekugbe’s teammate at Hatayspor. He and some friends gathered at Adekugbe’s house after the match to stop, leaving before the earthquake.

Adekugbe survived and arrived in Istanbul with other Hatayspor players and staff. With Hatayspor out of the Turkish Super League for the rest of the season, the Canadian defender joined Istanbul’s Galatasaray on loan.

Antakya, the city Hatayspor is based on, is in the southern part of Turkey that is most affected by earthquakes.

The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria passed 43,000 on Friday.

Hatayspor said Atsu’s body was brought to Ghana. “There are no words to describe our sadness,” the club tweeted.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo posted a photo of Atsu on his official Twitter account and wrote: “Ghanaian football has lost one of its best personnel and ambassadors, who will be hard to replace. He will be sorely missed.”

Former Ghana captain and teammate Asamoah Gyan tweeted “RIP Brother.”

A day after the earthquake there were reports that Atsu had been rescued but Hatayspor, after initially announcing that they had received information that Atsu was still alive and on the way to the hospital, later said that the report of a successful rescue was, out of caution, false. and players are still missing. He also said the club’s sporting director, Taner Savut, was still missing. Savut has not been found.

The contractor of the 12-storey Ronesans Rezidans building – where Atsu and Savut live – was detained at Istanbul Airport a week ago, apparently trying to leave the country.

Atsu’s agent, Nana Sechere, travels to Turkey with members of Atsu’s family in an attempt to find him, continuing to hope that he is alive amid the ruins. Sechere urged authorities and Hatayspor officials to step up their efforts to find Atsu and Savut.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sechere said rescuers had been able to pinpoint the exact location of Atsu’s room in the collapsed apartment building a week after the devastating earthquake, but all they could find were two pairs of shoes.

Sechere confirmed that Atsu’s body was found. He posted a message on Twitter: “My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones.”

Atsu played over 60 times for Ghana and scored on his debut as a 20-year-old in 2012. He was part of Ghana’s squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and starred at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, scoring two goals. to help Ghana reach the final, where they lost on penalties to Ivory Coast.

He was named the player of the tournament at the Africa Cup of Nations.

‘A talented player and a special person’

Atsu was signed by Chelsea in 2013 but his time was limited to exhibition games and he was loaned out to various clubs over the next four years. The winger joined Newcastle on loan in 2016 and was part of the team that won promotion back to the Premier League in the 2016-17 season.

He signed a permanent deal with Newcastle in 2017 and spent four years there. The club said on Saturday it was “deeply saddened” by Atsu’s death.

“A talented player and a special person, he will be missed by the players, staff and supporters,” Newcastle tweeted.

The Ghana Football Association added: “We would like to express our deepest condolences to his wife and children, his family, loved ones and the football community.”

Atsu joined Hatayspor last year after playing in Saudi Arabia.

Ibrahim Kwarteng, a friend of Atsu in Ghana, told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he knows the player as someone who helps people in his West African country as much as possible.

Kwarteng runs an organization that helps people convicted of petty crimes get jobs and rebuild their lives after being released from jail and Atsu is its biggest donor, Kwarteng said. Atsu has also started building an orphanage in Ghana and is helping to fund a new breast cancer screening center, Kwarteng said.