Thousands feared dead in 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey
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How Turkish man pulled from rubble after 11 days discovers his newborn baby survived
Rescued from the wreckage of a private hospital, Mustafa Avci was desperate to know the fate of his parents, wife and newborn daughter
www.telegraph.co.uk
How Turkish man pulled from rubble after 11 days discovers his newborn baby survived
Rescued from the wreckage of a private hospital, Mustafa Avci was desperate to know the fate of his parents, wife and newborn daughterByNataliya Vasilyeva IN ISTANBUL17 February 2023 • 7:06pm
Mustafa Avci was reunited with his wife Bilge and daughter Almile at a hospital in Mersin CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
When Mustafa Avci, 34, was pulled from the debris of a building in Turkey’s Antakya 11 days after it was hit by a devastating earthquake, he asked paramedics to call the first number he could remember.
He was desperate to know about the fate of his parents, his wife, and his newborn daughter.
Footage posted on social media by Turkey’s health minister shows Mr Avci lying underneath a thermal blanket with electrodes attached to his chest and his head in a brace as he weakly speaks into a phone being held by someone else.
The unidentified relative on the other end of the line sobs and repeatedly says “my brother” as Mr Avci insists he is OK.
“I’m doing fine. Let me hear your voices just a little bit,” Mr Avci said.
Mr Avci then asks about his mother and whether everyone else in the family made it out alive.
“Everyone is well. We are waiting for you,” the relative can be heard saying.
Mr Avci then smiles weakly, pulls the phone closer and starts kissing it.
He was later put on a video call with his parents who showed him his newborn baby, safe and well.
He was eventually reunited with his wife Bilge and daughter Almile at a hospital in Mersin.
Another man, Mehmet Ali Sakiroglu, was also rescued from under rubble in Hatay, 261 hours after earthquake hit Turkey CREDIT: @drfahrettinkoca/Newsflash
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca visited Mr Avci’s parents at the hospital on Thursday night.
"I had completely lost all hope. This is a true miracle. They gave me my son back. I saw the wreckage and I thought nobody could be saved alive from there," his father said, according to local media.
Mr Avci was rescued from the wreckage of a private hospital in the centre of Hatay’s regional capital of Antakya some 261 hours after it collapsed, health officials said.
He was one of three people pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey on Friday.
A man sits on the debris of collapsed buildings in Hatay following the earthquake CREDIT: Burak Kara/Getty Images Europe
Experts say most rescues occur in the 24 hours following an earthquake. However, a teenage girl was saved 15 days after a devastating quake in Haiti in 2010, giving hope that more people might yet be found.
Not everyone has been so lucky, however.
The death toll in Turkey now stands at 38,044, making it the worst disaster in modern Turkish history. But this number is expected to shoot up given some 264,000 apartments were lost in the quake and many people are still unaccounted for.
In neighbouring Syria, already shattered by more than a decade of civil war, authorities have reported more than 5,800 deaths. The toll has not changed for days.
Anger is growing in Turkey over the extent of damage done to several public buildings which should have been built with stringent earthquake-proof standards.
At least 54 contractors have been arrested and a total of 245 face charges for cutting corners on the construction of relatively new buildings that tumbled down like houses of cards, according to the justice ministry.
By the end of Thursday, the country’s ministry for environment and urban development confirmed that over 56,000 in the 10 affected provinces have now been ruled uninhabitable and would be demolished.
Murat Kurum, the urban development minister, said his officials are already working on a new zoning plan that would place a cap on the height of the buildings and limit the areas for development.
The United Nations on Thursday launched an appeal for $1 billion to help the victims in Turkey where the disaster has directly affected at least 9 million people, according to Turkish authorities.
The funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people and “allow aid organisations to rapidly scale up vital support,” Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general said.
Christian Atsu, Professional Soccer Player, Is Found Dead in Turkey After Quake (Published 2023)
Mr. Atsu, a Ghanaian national who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing. He was 31.
Christian Atsu, Professional Soccer Player, Is Found Dead in Turkey After Quake
Mr. Atsu, a Ghanaian national who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing. He was 31.
“We will not forget you, Atsu. Peace be upon you, beautiful person,” his club, Hatayspor, said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday. Scott Heppell/Reuters
By Euan Ward
Feb. 18, 2023, 9:14 a.m. ET
The body of Christian Atsu, a professional soccer player from Ghana whose career took him to England’s Premier League and the World Cup, has been recovered from the rubble in southern Turkey nearly two weeks after a powerful earthquake struck the country, his club and his agent said on Saturday. He was 31.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce to all well wishers that sadly Christian Atsu’s body was recovered this morning,” Nana Sechere, Mr. Atsu’s agent, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “My deepest condolences go to his family and loved ones.”
Mr. Sechere said Mr. Atsu had been found in Hatay Province in southern Turkey, one of the hardest-hit areas in the earthquake.
Mr. Atsu, who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing since Feb. 6, when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. Just hours before the quake, he had scored his team’s winning goal in its match against Kasimpasa, a team from Istanbul.
His club also confirmed the news and said he was being repatriated to Ghana.
“We will not forget you, Atsu. Peace be upon you, beautiful person,” Hatayspor said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday.
There had been conflicting accounts of Mr. Atsu’s whereabouts after the earthquake, and earlier statements that he had been rescued had initially raised hopes that he had survived the earthquake.
Mr. Atsu, a member of Ghana’s World Cup team in 2014, had spent the bulk of his career with European clubs, and signed with Porto, Chelsea and Newcastle United. He joined Hatayspor last year.
Condolences poured in on Saturday on social media, including from Newcastle United, the Premier League and FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. The Ghana Football Association said that weekend games would hold a moment of silence for Mr. Atsu.
“Ghana football has lost one of its finest personnel and ambassadors, one who will be difficult to replace,” President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said on Twitter.
As the club desperately searched for Mr. Atsu after the earthquake, Volkan Demirel, Hatayspor’s manager, had pleaded for aid.
“I thought the day of judgment had come. I immediately thought of my players,” Mr. Demirel told Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper, about the moment the earthquake hit.
“May God not cause such pain to anyone,” he added.
More than 45,000 people have died in the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, according to figures from the Turkish authorities and from the United Nations, and the death toll was expected to continue to rise.
African_brehda
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Christian Atsu, Professional Soccer Player, Is Found Dead in Turkey After Quake (Published 2023)
Mr. Atsu, a Ghanaian national who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing. He was 31.www.nytimes.com
Christian Atsu, Professional Soccer Player, Is Found Dead in Turkey After Quake
Mr. Atsu, a Ghanaian national who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing. He was 31.
“We will not forget you, Atsu. Peace be upon you, beautiful person,” his club, Hatayspor, said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday. Scott Heppell/Reuters
By Euan Ward
Feb. 18, 2023, 9:14 a.m. ET
The body of Christian Atsu, a professional soccer player from Ghana whose career took him to England’s Premier League and the World Cup, has been recovered from the rubble in southern Turkey nearly two weeks after a powerful earthquake struck the country, his club and his agent said on Saturday. He was 31.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce to all well wishers that sadly Christian Atsu’s body was recovered this morning,” Nana Sechere, Mr. Atsu’s agent, wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “My deepest condolences go to his family and loved ones.”
Mr. Sechere said Mr. Atsu had been found in Hatay Province in southern Turkey, one of the hardest-hit areas in the earthquake.
Mr. Atsu, who played for the Turkish club Hatayspor, had been among the thousands of people missing since Feb. 6, when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. Just hours before the quake, he had scored his team’s winning goal in its match against Kasimpasa, a team from Istanbul.
His club also confirmed the news and said he was being repatriated to Ghana.
“We will not forget you, Atsu. Peace be upon you, beautiful person,” Hatayspor said in a statement on Twitter on Saturday.
There had been conflicting accounts of Mr. Atsu’s whereabouts after the earthquake, and earlier statements that he had been rescued had initially raised hopes that he had survived the earthquake.
Mr. Atsu, a member of Ghana’s World Cup team in 2014, had spent the bulk of his career with European clubs, and signed with Porto, Chelsea and Newcastle United. He joined Hatayspor last year.
Condolences poured in on Saturday on social media, including from Newcastle United, the Premier League and FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. The Ghana Football Association said that weekend games would hold a moment of silence for Mr. Atsu.
“Ghana football has lost one of its finest personnel and ambassadors, one who will be difficult to replace,” President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said on Twitter.
As the club desperately searched for Mr. Atsu after the earthquake, Volkan Demirel, Hatayspor’s manager, had pleaded for aid.
“I thought the day of judgment had come. I immediately thought of my players,” Mr. Demirel told Hurriyet, a Turkish newspaper, about the moment the earthquake hit.
“May God not cause such pain to anyone,” he added.
More than 45,000 people have died in the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, according to figures from the Turkish authorities and from the United Nations, and the death toll was expected to continue to rise.
Crazy shyt is breh had a flight planned to leave the country at 11 pm that night, but decided to cancel and stay after the game and the performance he just had.
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You really believe this fake ass video from a Russia supporting troll account?
Givethanks
Superstar
I hope it's not in the same area
