Johannesburg – Asamoah Gyan has joined the masses in praying for the safe return of Christian Atsu who’s been missing since the earthquake in Türkiye on February 6.
It was 10 days ago that the world woke up to the news that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake had struck parts of Türkiye and Syria, causing widespread devastation. The death toll has passed the 41 000 mark.
Since then, all professional football games have been indefinitely suspended in Türkiye. Turkish-born goalkeeper Eyup Turkaslan, 28, is one of those who died.
The Ghanaian Football Association (GFA) and the footballing fraternity, meanwhile, learnt that winger Atsu, who plays for Hatayspor in Türkiye, was missing.
The GFA and the Turkish government were reported to have made a breakthrough in the rescue of Atsu, who was allegedly admitted to a local hospital after sustaining injuries to his lower limbs.
However, that turned out to be untrue.
On Tuesday afternoon, a statement from Atsu’s agent, Nana Sechere, said the footballer had not yet been found.
“We still have not located Christian,” he said.
“The scenes are unimaginable and our hearts are broken for all the people affected.
"During my time here we have been able to locate Christian Atsu's exact room location, and we have found two pairs of his shoes.
“Yesterday we received confirmation that thermal imagery was showing signs of up to five lives. However, I am told that the only real confirmation of life is through sight, smell and sound, and unfortunately we were not able to locate Christian.”
Sachere said they had received a lot of support from the locals, but Atsu’s club, Hatayspor, had not joined in the search
“This is a difficult situation and we are grateful to all the Turkish and foreign rescue teams, local civilians and volunteers for their efforts and response in rescuing the survivors,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that the club is not on the ground with us, side by side, in search for Christian. Their position and influence, accompanied with their local knowledge, would be extremely helpful.
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“We implore the president of the club and mayor of Hatayspor Lutfu Savas to provide additional resources to speed up the rescue efforts as a priority.”
With the footballing fraternity still in shock over the news of Atsu’s disappearance, Ghanaian legend Gyan took to his social media platform to pray for the safe return of the 31-year-old.
Club don’t know if Christian Atsu is still alive … confusion over player’s whereabouts
“God have mercy on our brother @ChristianAtsu20!” he tweeted.
Atsu has 60 caps for the Black Stars, and spent five years at English Premier League side Newcastle United. He’s also a Chelsea youth product.
IOL Sport