WASHINGTON — English Premier League team Newcastle United is “praying for some positive news” amid reports that their former player Christian Atsu is among those trapped under the rubble following a powerful earthquake in Turkey.
The Ghana international spent several years with Newcastle and Chelsea before signing with Turkish side Hatayspor last summer.
“Praying for some positive news,” his former club Newcastle said in a social media post. Also on social media, the Ghana Football Association said it is trying to get in contact with Atsu’s team and the Turkish Football Federation.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Christian Atsu and our brothers and sisters in Turkey and Syria,” the organization added. “We remain hopeful for positive news.”
The 31-year-old was the hero for ‘The Star of the South’ on Sunday, coming off the substitutes’ bench to score a 97th-minute goal in a 1-0 win over Kasimpasa.
A powerful, 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkey and neighboring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,300 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled hundreds of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble or pancaked floors.
Authorities feared the death toll would rise further as rescuers searched through tangles of metal and concrete for survivors in a region beset by more than a decade of Syria’s civil war and a refugee crisis.
The quake, which was centered on Turkey’s southeastern province of Kahramanmaras, sent residents of Damascus rushing into the street and was felt as far away as Cairo and Beirut.
The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.
The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s pre-dawn quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles). Hours later, a 7.5 magnitude one struck more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.