Christian Atsu, formerly of FC Porto and Rio Ave, was found alive among the rubble of the building where he lived, which collapsed after the strong earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria. The 31-year-old Hatayspor player from Ghana is in hospital with injuries to his right foot and breathing difficulties, according to Turkish media.
He had been reported missing and it was feared that he was under the rubble of the building where he lived, which turned out to be the case. The Portuguese Rúben Ribeiro (ex-Sporting and Rio Ave) and the Cape Verdean Zé Luís (ex-FC Porto and Sp. Braga) who also play for Hatayspor, are safe according to the newspaper OJogo, manager of Zé Luís, José Fouto.
Mustafa Özat, spokesman for Hatayspor, says that it has not yet been possible to get in touch with the athlete, nor with sporting director Taner Savut. “We know that our sports director Taner Savut is under the rubble, we couldn’t reach him. We couldn’t find out anything about Atsu, we know that his building was destroyed,” Özat said in statements to Turkey’s beIN Sports, thanking him God for Burak Öksüz, Bertug Yildirim and Kerim Alici came out alive from the wreckage. As well as Onur Ergun, initially reported missing, who has already turned to Instagram to say that he is “good and contactable”.
The earthquake struck at 04:17 (01:17 in Lisbon) this Monday, 33 kilometers from the provincial capital of Gaziantep, in southeastern Turkey, close to the border with Syria, at a depth of 17.9 kilometers. Hatayspor is a club from Hatay province, about three hours drive from Gaziantep.
Meanwhile, another earthquake measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale shook southeastern Turkey. The earthquake was recorded at 13:24 local time (10:24 in Lisbon), with an epicenter four kilometers from the Turkish town of Ekinozu, and an intensity of 7.5 degrees on the Richter scale.
Source: DN
