The body of footballer Christian Atsu, who was killed in the earthquake in Turkey, will be repatriated to Ghana on Sunday, the country's foreign ministry said.
Atsu lost his life at the age of 31 in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on February 6 and killed more than 44,000 people.
After two weeks of searching, his body was found on Saturday in the rubble of the building where he lived in Antakya.
The player's brother and sister were present at the scene at the time of the macabre discovery.
“
The mortal remains will be accompanied by his family and the Ghanaian Ambassador to Turkey on board a Turkish Airlines flight which will arrive in Accra at 7:40 p.m.
,” the ministry said.
Atsu's widow Marie-Claire Rupio and their three children attended a tribute to the player at Newcastle, one of his former clubs, on Saturday ahead of a Premier League game against Liverpool.
The Ghanaian international striker had also played for Porto and Chelsea in particular before signing for Hatayspor in Turkey in 2022. He had played his last match for this club the day before the earthquake.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/E2SOPDAIKRGJPJY4T2WETDP77I.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
