The Turkish government has announced the suspension of all sports competitions, following the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that shook the south of the country and northern Syria this Monday morning.
“All scheduled national competitions are cancelled, until further notice,” said the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu, on his account on the social network Twitter, also expressing his solidarity with the entire country.
The cancellation of competitions announced by the Government comes after the Football League also communicated it, as well as the organization of the Tour of Antalya, a cycling event that was to be held as of Thursday.
According to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this is already the worst earthquake in Turkey since 1939, at a time when there are data of more than 1,500 dead and countless missing, many of them under the rubble.
The Turkish press has announced that there are dozens of athletes, soccer, volleyball, handball and wrestling, among the rubble of buildings, pointing out the cases of goalkeeper Ahmet Eyup Turkarslan, in the city of Malatya, who was with his wife , rescued. and footballer Christian Atsu, formerly of FC Porto, who will be missing in the rubble of Hatay, along with Hatayspor’s sports director, Taner Savut.
The information made public by the Turkish press also indicates that most of the volleyball players from a team from Eastern Anatolia will be buried under the rubble of the Kircuval Hotel, in Malatya, where they were staying, only three being rescued.
A tragic scene that also affects a women’s volleyball team from Hatay and footballers from Marassporm, a Turkish second division team, all reported missing, as well as several Karamamaras wrestlers and international handball player Cemal Kutahya.
The quake occurred at 04:17 (01:17 in Lisbon), 33 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, at a depth of 17.9 kilometers.
According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) the earthquake that occurred today registered a magnitude of 7.8 and dozens of aftershocks were felt.
Official information reports the collapse of buildings in the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama and in Diyarbakir, Turkey, in this case more than 300 kilometers from the epicenter.
More than 900 buildings were destroyed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, according to government sources.
Source: TSF
