Former Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu among those missing after Turkey earthquakes — *UPDATE* found injured but alive!

UPDATE 2:

As per his club, Atsu has been found, injured but alive. He’s been taken to hospital. Hatayspor sporting director Taner Savut is still under the rubble.

The death toll has now risen to 5000 with the injured numbering well into the tens of thousands. Nearly 6000 buildings have been destroyed in Turkey alone.

UPDATE:

A report in Portugal claims that Atsu has been found. Sources in Turkey have not yet confirmed this unfortunately.

PREVIOUSLY:

Turkey and Syria were hit by devastating earthquakes today, with a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, the strongest on record in the region, followed by a magnitude 7.5 nine hours later, in addition to numerous lower magnitude aftershocks.

The damage is untold, with dozens of buildings collapsed, including many high-rise residential blocks. The current death toll is over 2000 and rising, while the number of injured and wounded is many times that. The numbers are entering a territory where they are hard to grasp, beyond just being absolutely catastrophic.

Among those reportedly missing is former Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu, who joined Hatayspor last summer. In fact, he scored a last-minute winning goal for them yesterday, in a 1-0 win over Kasımpaşa. Atsu is among several members of the club missing at this time.

Atsu joined us from FC Porto in 2013, and while he never quite got to make his debut, he spent multiple preseasons with Chelsea while going out on loan several times, including most notably to Vitesse as well as Newcastle United. He would transfer to Newcastle in 2017 and spend the next four years there as well.

We join all others in hoping for some positive news about Christian, and hoping that rescue workers can free as many people trapped under the rubble as possible. If you’re in the USA, the Turkish Embassy have provided information for monetary or in-kind donations to help with the search and rescue operations.