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On Wednesday, February 8, Volkan Demirel, coach of Hatayspor, a team in the Turkish First Division, came forward and denied rumors that his player, Ghanaian international Christian Atsu, had been rescued. According to the Turkish coach, the club still has no news of the former Málaga player or the club's sports director, Taner Savut.
In statements to the newspaper Hurriyet, Demirel stated: "Please do not write that he has survived without being sure that he has survived. People have families, hopes, sorrows, and increasing pains."
"There is still no news about Atsu and Taner Savut. I would not say this if they were in the hospital. We are going through very difficult times," added the coach, revealing that the team is going through a very tough time.
Apparently, the confusion could be due to some identification error, as reported to the press by Hatayspor's doctor, Gurbey Kahveci. "When we heard the news that he had been taken to Dortyol Hospital, we went to look for him but he was not there. For the moment and, unfortunately, it seems that (sports director) Taner Savut and Christian Atsu have not been found," the doctor mentioned today.
As a reminder, the club announced last Tuesday that the international footballer had been rescued alive but his situation was unknown. The 31-year-old forward, who scored in his last match last Sunday, has also played for Porto, Chelsea, and Newcastle, among other clubs.
It is worth noting that the city of Hatay is located 180 kilometers south of the province where the magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck, devastating the southeast of Turkey and causing more than 11,200 deaths in Turkey and Syria so far.
Turkish football bids farewell to Türkaslan
Unfortunately, not all missing persons in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake have had the same luck as Christian Atsu. Ahmet Eyüp Türkaslan has become the first professional player to lose his life after the earthquake. He was a goalkeeper and played for Yeni Malatyaspor.
The goalkeeper was in the town of Kahramanmaraş after the presentation last weekend. The team's coach, Yilmaz Vural, stated that he gave "two days off to the players after the Rize match and most of them were not in Malatya. Only our second goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyüp Türkaslan. His wife was saved, but I still do not know about him."
However, the finding of the goalkeeper's jersey revealed the tragic outcome on a black day for the region, with a death toll exceeding a thousand.
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