How Atsu’s wife, children got information about his disappearance after Turkey earthquake

Marie-Claire Rupio, the wife of Black Stars winger, Christian Atsu, has revealed how she heard about the earthquake that hit Turkey and the situation with her husband.

According to her, she found out about her husband, Christian Atsu, being trapped under earthquake rubble through her sister-in-law and on the news on Monday, February 6, 2023.

Marie-Claire Rupio, in an interview with the BBC, said the family was devastated by the news that the player had been trapped in a collapsed building following the earthquake.

“I had a lot of missed calls on my phone from his sister, and she just told me, and then I read the news. My children also had to hear from the radio that they don't know where he is after the club had confirmed that he has been found and taken to the hospital” she said.

She also described the contradicting reports about the situation as confusing and appealed to the UK and Turkish governments to do everything possible to rescue him.

"He is still trapped under the rubble, but the problem is they don't have the necessary equipment to get them out. So he is still missing, and they don't know where he is," she told the BBC in an interview.

Background

A powerful earthquake struck South-eastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, killing more than 5,000 people as they slept and trapping many others in the early hours of Monday.

The US Geological Survey said the 7.8 magnitude tremor struck at 04:17 local time (01:17 GMT) at a depth of 17.9km (11 miles) near the city of Gaziantep.

Hours later, a second quake, which had a magnitude of 7.5, hit the Elbistan district of Kahramanmaras province.

In September 2022, the 31-year-old Black Stars winger penned a one-year deal to join the Turkish side following a spell in Saudi Arabia.

It is reported that over 22,000 lives have been claimed by the earthquake in both Syria and Turkey.

JE/BOG