By Emelia B. Addae, GNA
Koforidua, Feb. 11, GNA – Alhaji Ibrahim Oppong Kwarteng, Chief Executive Officer, Crime Check Foundation, has appealed to government to intervene in the search for Christian Atsu, an international footballer who is trapped in a deadly earthquake in Turkey.
Earlier reports on the February 6 about the 7.8 magnitude earthquake indicated that the 31-year-old footballer, who played for Turkish Super Lig club Hatayspor, had been rescued from the rubble.
However, media reports quoting a Hatayspor official later reported that the football player’s identity had been misidentified and that he had not yet been found.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Alhaji Ibrahim noted that speculative information had caused scores of Ghanaians to be concerned about the situation.
He quizzed: “Some victims have been found and are being treated, others are receiving physical supplies, where then is our brother Christian Atsu?”
Though diplomatically, he added, the government would be assisting the situation, which the citizens of Ghana might not be aware of, but “If information is withheld for a very long time, it leads to agitation. We also pray for God’s intervention.”
Alhaji Ibrahim, a PhD candidate in migration studies at the University of Ghana and Ambassador Extraordinaire of Prisons, pleaded with the government to take swift action and intervene in the issue to help rescue Atsu, who had made significant contributions to the progress of the country.
According to media reports from Istanbul, Turkey, on February 6, 2023, at around 4:00 a.m., a massive earthquake ripped across Turkey and Syria, leaving wreckage and debris on both sides of the border.
Several videos and photos circulated on both traditional and social media, showing rescuers scrambling to extricate survivors from beneath the rubble.
Officials say it was one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the area in a century, jolting residents from their beds and causing tremors as far away as Israel and Lebanon.
Reports on Thursday indicated that over 16,000 people have died in neighboring Syria and Turkey, and rescuers were still looking for survivors.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkey, Mrs Francisca Ashietey-Odunton, told the GNA that efforts were being made to evacuate Ghanaians living in the affected areas.
“Our compatriots in the disaster areas are mostly students, and they are not many. They’ve all been accounted for, and we will evacuate them in the coming days,” she said.
GNA