Reports that Christian Atsu has been found alive have been denied by Kerim Alici, one of his Hatayspor team-mates as well as the team’s vice president, Mustafa Ozat.
More than 3,000 people have been killed and thousands more injured after the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria overnight, flattening neighbourhoods while families were asleep.
A search and rescue operation was launched for the former Chelsea and Newcastle man, and it had been reported by Portuguese outlet A Bola that he had been found – through an Instagram post from Alici denied the information.
The death toll in southern Turkey and northern Syria continues to rise following the two earthquakes which have wrecked towns and smaller settlements across a large region.
The initial earthquake struck overnight, with a Richter scale magnitude of 7.8.
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A second earthquake followed at around 13:30 local time on Monday afternoon. Officials said this was not an aftershock.
The 31-year-old joined Chelsea in 2013 but never played a competitive minute for the club as he was sent out on loan for a number of reasons including to Everton and Newcastle.
Though he made just five appearances at Everton, he impressed enough on loan at Newcastle to make a permanent move to the Magpies.
In total he made 107 appearances for the club, scoring eight goals, before joining Saudi side Al-Raed in 2021.
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Newcastle have posted on social media with a photo of Atsu when he was at the club, saying they were ‘praying for some good news’.
Atsu was in action on Sunday for Hatayspor, scoring a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time in a 1-0 victory over Kasimpasa.
In a message after the game, he wrote: ‘Important win for the team. Happy to be on the scoresheet.’
The earthquake hit hard in Kahramanmaras, where Hatayspor are based.
Hatayspor player Onur Ergun posted an Instagram story in response to earlier reports that he is missing to say they were incorrect.
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Credit: Dailymail.co.uk
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