Turkey/Ghana (Commonwealth Union)_The body of thirty one year old rugby winger, Ghanian Christian Atsu was found in the rubble of the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey recently. Missing since February 06th Atsu’s body was found in the rubble in the apartment building he lived in Hatay, which had been razed to the ground. His phone was also found at the site. His older brother and twin sister identified the body at the site when it was recovered. . The body will be transported to Ghana for burial.
As luck would have it, Atsu was scheduled to fly out just hours before the quake but had opted to stay on since he had scored the winning goal for his club Hatayspor on February the 5th at the Super Lig match.
A former winger for English Premier League Clubs Everton, Chelsea and Newcastle United, Atsu joined Hataysport in September 2022. It was he who won 65 caps for Ghana and was instrumental in pushing Ghana into the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations final. He last played for Ghana in 2019.
Each of his clubs paid tribute to their colleague in heartfelt condolences, calling him a ‘talented and special person who will always be fondly remembered by players, staff and supporters,’ alike. Newcastle recalled him fondly calling him, ‘a nice lad who always had a smile’.
Atsu is among 45,000 people killed in the most catastrophic earthquake in recent times with about 264,000 apartments turned to rubble and hundreds of thousands yet missing. While that quake was 7.8 on the Richter scale, another quake of a 6.5 magnitude hit Turkey on Monday the20th again, leaving the country reeling in the aftermath, aftershocks and more destruction to life and limb.
