Christian Atsu Still Missing Despite Rescue Claims

Ghanaian soccer player Christian Atsu remains missing in southern Turkey following an earthquake that devastated the region Monday, according to his agent and manager, even though an executive at his Turkish club—Hatayspor—said Tuesday he was “pulled out injured” from the rubble.

Atsu’s agent, Nana Sachere, shared a message on Twitter saying, “We are doing everything we can to locate Christian,” while urging fans to “refrain from spreading unsubstantiated news.”

Hatayspor manager Volkan Demirel also told a Turkish sporting news outlet Wednesday he had received no news about the player, adding, “Please don’t be sure that he survived,” according to a Washington Post translation.

The Ghana Football Association tweeted early Tuesday morning that Atsu had “been successfully rescued from the rubble of the collapsed building and is receiving treatment,” while Hatayspor vice president Mustafa Ozat also claimed Atsu had been found.

Hatayspor sporting director Taner Savut also remains missing, following the earthquake.

Atsu, 31, joined the club in southern Turkey in September following a short stint at a club in Saudi Arabia, but he is best known for spending several years in England’s Premier League—widely considered the strongest soccer league in the world. Atsu made 80 appearances between 2014 and 2020 for Newcastle United and Everton, making him a regular fixture in the league. He also played 65 games for Ghana and scored nine goals for his country between 2012 and 2019. He started all three of Ghana’s matches at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

The death toll from Monday’s 7.8 magnitude earthquake rose above 11,000 Wednesday, with the vast majority of deaths reported in southern Turkey. More than 2,600 have died in northern Syria, but the count there is complicated since much of the region is controlled by rebels opposed to the Damascus-based regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations estimates around 6,000 buildings have collapsed in Turkey, leaving a massive population homeless and without basic supplies in freezing-cold conditions. Rescue teams from the U.S., China and the European Union have been dispatched to the region, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced criticism for an allegedly sluggish response.

The earthquake is the deadliest in the world since 2011, when tremors and a tsunami killed more.