Former Chelsea star Christian Atsu has been discovered alive within the rubble of the Turkey earthquake after his voice was reportedly heard.
The 31-year-old Ghana ace is believed to have been on the ninth ground of an condominium block when two earthquakes rocked Turkey on early on Monday.
Atsu, who has three youngsters with spouse Marie-Claire, performs for Hatayspor, who he joined final summer time.
The earthquake hit onerous in Kahramanmaras, the place Hatayspor are primarily based.
Video confirmed rescuers with search lights sifting by means of the wreckage of his condominium block in the course of the evening, The Sun stories.
According to native media stories, Atsu’s voice was heard within the rubble, together with that of Hatayspor’s Sporting Director Taner Savut.
Hatayspor spokesman Mustafa Ozat reportedly stated: “Christian Atsu was taken out with injuries.
“Our sporting director, Taner Savut, is unfortunately still under the rubble.”
Ghana’s ambassador to Turkey, Francisca Ashitey-Odunton, stated she’s obtained info from the nation’s soccer authorities that Atsu “has been found”.
Several of his teammates have been dramatically rescued from their houses after the earthquake struck at 4am native time.
Just hours earlier than the quake struck Atsu scored deep into stoppage time on Saturday to safe a 1-0 win over Kasimpasa.
“Important win for the team. Happy to be on the scoresheet,” he tweeted.
Footage confirmed Atsu being mobbed by his teammates as ecstatic followers celebrated the win, together with messages praying for him to be discovered.
Newcastle and Chelsea have been earlier anxiously awaiting news of their former participant.
A put up on Newcastle’s official Twitter account stated: “Praying for some positive news, @ChristianAtsu20.”
While Chelsea tweeted: “We’re praying for you, Christian Atsu.”
Atsu joined Chelsea from Porto for £3.5million in 2013 however didn’t make a single look for the Premier League giants.
Atsu took in loans at Vitesse, Everton, Bournemouth, Malaga and Newcastle.
And the Magpies made his deal everlasting in 2017 after Atsu performed a key function of their promotion from the Championship.
The ace ended up making 86 appearances for Newcastle earlier than becoming a member of Al-Raed in 2021.
Atsu moved to Hatayspor final summer time and has one objective in 4 video games.
Up to 10,000 are feared useless, together with many kids, after two “once-in-a-century” earthquakes rocked Turkey and Syria at present.
An enormous 7.8 magnitude shock – one of many greatest for 100 years – was adopted hours later by one other big 7.5 magnitude quake.
Frantic survivors used their naked fingers to dig by means of the rubble of flattened houses and have been filmed pulling kids to security amid scenes of utter destruction.The twin earthquakes additionally sparked tsunami alerts on Mediterranean coasts in Greece, Cyprus and Italy, and shaking was felt as far-off as Egypt and Iran.
— This story initially appeared on thesun.co.uk and has been republished with permission
Originally printed as Rubble miracle as rescue employees hear soccer participant’s voice in Turkey earthquake
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au