"Atsu and Tabor are still under the ruins, trying to reach them" - Voila! sport

Collapse of buildings in an earthquake in Turkey (social networks)

Unfortunate news continues to arrive from Turkey after the earthquakes in the early morning and afternoon today (Monday).

The death toll has already crossed 1,400, in addition there are thousands of injured and the numbers will continue to rise, as many are trapped under the ruins of the thousands of buildings - including quite a few active athletes.

After the coach of Taysspor from Turkey's top soccer league, Volkan Demirel, who is also the former goalkeeper of the national team, called in tears for urgent help from anyone who can provide it, it was reported in the local media that the team's striker Christian Atsu and the sports director Tanner Sabut were defined as missing.

Rescue teams are looking for the two, who were trapped under collapsed buildings.

Atsu is a Ghanaian national team player who represented his country in the 2014 World Cup and played for Premier League teams such as Newcastle and Everton.

Just yesterday he scored the winning goal for Taysspor, with a free kick in the 97th minute against Kasimpasa.

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Christian Atsu's winning goal yesterday

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According to one of the reports, Atsu was on the ninth floor of the building that collapsed and nine other players and two club officials were with him.

The Taispor vice president updated: "Atsu and the sporting director are still under the rubble, we are trying to reach them."

Three other Taispor players were rescued from the wreckage as was a staff member.

One of the actors, Karim Eliji, went out on his own and his brother Barish said: "An hour after the earthquake, I was unable to contact him. I only spoke to him in the morning and he was in good condition, with only scratches and minor bleeding. Thank God he was awake during the earthquake The wall collapsed and luckily there was a closet and a table between it and the wall. Other coaches and players also live in this building in Hatay, they also managed to get out unscathed."

In Newcastle they are praying for Atsu's safety

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Another footballer who was declared missing is the goalkeeper of Yeni Maltiaspor from the minor league, Ahmet Turkeslan.

The team's assistant coach told a Turkish newspaper: "We haven't located our goalkeeper yet. There are no signs of life from him so far. His wife came to the rescue and described where he might be."

Vincenzo Montella, the Italian coach of Adana Demirspor, told the media in his country: "We are in Istanbul and our match was cancelled, but I know that in Adana the earthquake was very strong and many of my players are worried about their families. Buildings collapsed and people stayed on the streets during the night. I understand that the hotel in I stay, evacuate after being damaged."

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Earlier it was reported that six volleyball players from a team in the Turkish minor league were trapped under the rubble of a hotel in the Malatya area, and in addition the residential building of 30-40 Turkish wrestlers in Kahramanmarsh collapsed.

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• Earthquake in Turkey

• Christian Atsu