Former Newcastle United player Christian Atsu is reported to be trapped under rubble following the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit south-eastern Turkey and northern Syria during the early hours, followed by a second of 7.5.
The 31-year-old Ghanian, now playing his football with Turkish Super Lig side Hatayspor, was said to be missing – along with director Taner Suvut – after teammates and members of the club’s technical staff had been rescued.
“Taner Savut and Christian Atsu were left under the rubble,” reported Turkish newspaper Star Gazette. “Search and rescue teams are looking for two names.”
Atsu, who scored deep into stoppage time on Saturday to secure a 1-0 win over Kasimpasa, left St James’ Park during the summer of 2021 when he joined Saudi side Al Raed. He only moved to Turkey last September.
He started his professional career playing for Portuguese clubs Rio Ave and Porto before signing for Chelsea in 2013 but was almost immediately sent out on loan to Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem.
It was the first of several temporary moves that included Premier side Everton and Spanish club Malaga, before he joined Newcastle, initially on loan, where he helped the Magpies secure promotion back into the top-flight in the 2016-17 season.
Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez then signed the winger – who scored nine goals in 69 international appearances for his country – on a permanent basis for around £6 million and ended up making 121 appearances for the club.
A post on the Newcastle’s official Twitter account said: “Praying for some positive news, @ChristianAtsu20.”
Meanwhile, Turkish second division side Yeni Matalyaspor have confirmed that their 28-year-old goalkeeper Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan is also missing.
The second-tier outfit released a statement on Instagram, in which they said: “Our goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, is in the building that was damaged and destroyed in the earthquake.
“Search and rescue efforts continue. As of now, there has been no news from him yet.”
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"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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