He Ghanaian footballer Christian Atsu, striker for Turkish club Hatayspor and former Malaga player, He was found dead under the rubble of the building where he lived in Hatay, which collapsed in the February 6 earthquake, his agent announced Saturday.
“Atsu’s lifeless body was found under the rubble. They are still taking out his things. His phone was also found,” said his agent in Turkey, Murat Uzunmehmet, quoted by the Turkish private agency DHA, after two weeks of searching for the player. 31 years old.
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“It is with a heavy heart that I must announce to everyone (…) that Christian Atsu’s body was found this morning”said Nana Sechere, Atsu’s Ghanaian agent, on Twitter.
“My sincere condolences to his family and those close to him. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support,” he added.
According to Turkish media, the former Chelsea player was under the rubble of the Rönesans residence, a 12-story tower that collapsed in the earthquake.
(Also read: Turkey: three people are rescued alive after 296 hours under the rubble)
“The Ghanaian embassy in Turkey, which conveyed the sad news, indicates that the body was found early this morning,” the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in a statement.
“He older brother and twin sister of Christian Atsuin addition to an attaché from the embassy, were present at the scene when the body was recovered” indicates the text.
A difficult race in Europe
The Ghana Embassy in Turkey and the Ghana Football Federation initially claimed that the attacker had been found alive, but that information turned out to be false. He promoter of the luxury residence turned into ruins, in which 800 people would be buried, was arrested last week when trying to leave Turkey.
The earthquake, followed by powerful aftershocks, has killed more than 40,000 people in Turkey and Syriaaccording to the latest official reports released on Friday, also causing thousands of injuries and homeless people due to freezing cold.
(You may be interested in: An entire Syrian family died in a fire after surviving the earthquake)
Atsu had joined the Turkish club Hatayspor in September, based in Hatay province (south), near the epicenter of the violent earthquake that shook Turkey and Syria. The winger trained in Ghana at an academy for the Dutch club Feyenoord, and He arrived in Europe in 2011 at the age of 17, to FC Portowhere he quickly seduced some of the best teams on the continent.
In 2013 signed with Chelsea, but did not play any official match with the London club, who immediately loaned him to Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands. Atsu was later loaned to Everton and Bournemouth, where he did not convinceand spent the 2015/16 season at Málaga.
CAN’s best player
In 2016 he was loaned to Newcastleand transferred the following year for almost eight million euros, but he only scored three goals in four seasons with the ‘Magpies’, before joining the Al Raed team in Saudi Arabia, and then Hatayspor.
Several of his former teams, such as the Porto, Chelsea and Newcastle paid tribute to him on Saturday through statements.
(Also: Turkey Earthquake: Rescuers Say They Still Hear Voices Under Ruins)
Atsu had more success with the Ghanaian national team, with whom he played in four editions of the African Cup of Nations (CAN). Started in the 2015 final against the Ivory Coastbut they replaced him just before the penalty shootout which Ghana lost.
Voted best player of the CAN-2015, Atsu was included in the ideal eleven of the CAN in 2017. He also traveled to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the ‘Black Stars’ were eliminated in the group stage. Christian Atsu leaves behind a widow and three fatherless children.
Also read:
– The video of the brave nurses who saved 7 babies in the middle of an earthquake
– Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: how I survived buried with my 10-day-old baby
– Video: tender reaction of a child after being rescued from the rubble in Syria
AFP
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