Newcastle United ‘praying for’ former star who is missing after Turkiye quake

ISTANBUL: English Premier League Newcastle United has voiced fears for the fate of its former player Christian Atsu after a huge earthquake killed more than 2,200 people and injured thousands more on Monday in Turkiye and northwest Syria.

Atsu is reportedly among those trapped under the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras. The Ghanaian 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. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which hit before sunrise in bitter winter weather, was the worst to strike Turkiye this century and heaped more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war. It was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake of magnitude 7.7.