Former Chelsea and Newcastle player Christian Atsu’s Turkish club have said that they cannot find him at the hospital he’s reportedly been taken to.
Atsu, who plays for Hatayspor, was understood to have been rescued from a destroyed building on Monday following a 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The club’s vice president Mustafa Ozat had confirmed that Atsu was taken out of the rubble with injuries.
But, according to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, there are now fears the footballer was not among those found in the rubble.
Hatayspor’s club doctor Gurbey Kahveci said: ‘When we heard the news that “he was taken to Dortyol Hospital”, we especially went and looked, but he was not there.
”At the moment we accept that Savut Taner [sporting director] and Christian Atsu were not found, unfortunately.’
Atsu’s agent Nana Sechere also revealed that the player’s location is unknown, tweeting on Wednesday morning: ‘Following yesterday’s update from the club that, Christian had been pulled out alive, we are yet to confirm Christian’s 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.
Sechere also revealed that the 31-year-old had plunged from the ninth floor of his apartment building when the devastating earthquake hit.
He explained that 20 minutes after returning home from a poker night with team-mates, Atsu was sent plunging to the ground.
‘The last I heard from him was at midnight on Sunday. Christian and his team-mates were playing poker until 3:30am at a friend’s apartment,’ Sechere told the Mirror.
