Frantic efforts are being made to locate the whereabouts of Ghanaian international football star, Christian Atsu, following conflicting reports on whether he has been rescued or not from the rubble, four days after being caught in the earthquake that hit Turkiye and parts of Syria.

While his agent, Nana Sechere, is asking for prayers to locate where Atsu is, the Ghana Embassy in Turkiye says it is working closely with rescue teams to locate the whereabouts of the Ghanaian winger, almost 48 hours after he was reportedly rescued from the rubble.

At the moment, the whereabouts of the player are not known, as both Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkiye, Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, and officials of Atsu’s Turkish club, Hatayspor, say they have not located the hospital the player was reportedly sent to, neither have they been able to establish contact with him.

Nana Sechere revealed in a post on Twitter yesterday morning that the player had not been located.

“Following yesterday’s update from the club that Christian had been pulled out alive, we are yet to confirm his whereabouts.

“As you can imagine, this continues to be a devastating time for his family and we are doing everything we can to locate Christian. Let’s pray for his location and recovery,” he said in his Twitter post.

Nana Sechere, who is in London, not in Turkiye with the player, told the Daily Mail in London that the 31-year-old was lodged on the ninth floor of the club’s apartment building when the devastating earthquake hit.

“The last I heard from him (Atsu) was at midnight on Sunday, after their 1-0 win against another team in which match he scored the winning goal,” the agent said.

As of press time yesterday, there was still no word on the whereabouts of the 31-year-old winger.

Recall

Last Monday, news broke that Atsu, some teammates and officials were among the hundreds of people trapped under the rubble following two powerful and devastating earthquakes, measuring 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude, respectively, recorded within a short interval in south-eastern Turkiye and northern Syria.

Hatay, the home of Hatayspor, was one of the worst hit areas in Turkiye, along with Antalya, Diyarbakir, Kahramanmaraş and Adıyaman.

According to multiple media sources, the death toll kept rising, although more than 9,000 people had, since the incident, been pulled out of the rubble alive.

The death toll recorded in both Turkiye and Syria has reached 11,000 and rescuers say the chances of finding people under the rubble alive after three days are very slim.

Hospitals have been overflowing with injured survivors, while those who escaped unscathed are at the moment seeking shelter in government shelters or hotels, with others huddling in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centres to protect themselves from the winter.

Turkiye has declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces in order to manage the response, while only vehicles carrying aid are allowed to enter Kahramanmaraş, Adıyaman and Hatay in order to speed up the effort.

source: graphic.com