It has been revealed Christian Atsu canceled a booked flight from Turkey hours before the Turkish earthquake.
Christian Atsu died in a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that swept southeastern Turkey and some parts of Syria on February 6.
The former Chelsea and Newcastle star was reportedly on the 9th floor of a giant storybuilding that was leveled by the earthquake.
Thousands of victims were trapped in the rubble. After search and rescue operations began, some victims were rescued alive, while others were confirmed dead.
After the earthquake struck, Christian Atsu was confirmed missing inside the rubble with some of his teammates and staff.
However, it was later confirmed that three of his teammates who were trapped in the rubble were rescued alive, including a staff but Christian Atsu was still yet to be found.
As the search and rescue operations continued, another wave of an earthquake with a higher magnitude of 7.8 struck again.
A top Turkish goalkeeper Turkaslan was trapped and confirmed dead hours later. Marasspor players were reportedly buried as more structures and facilities crumbled in the earthquake.
There were reports Christian Atsu was found by the rescue team and hospitalized, but the report was later debunked by his closest pal and agent Mehmet, including Hatayspor.
We had earlier reported Christian Atsu was finally found dead in the rubble a week after the disastrous earthquake.
Now, reports have emerged the Hatayspor star and former Ghana international could have possibly averted the tragedy just hours after he scored a late winner for Hatayspor in the Turkish Super Lig.
According to Hatayspor club official, Christian Atsu had booked and scheduled a flight out of Turkey after he scored a 98th-minute winner for the club against Kasimpasa in the Turkish Super Lig.
The game against Kasimpasa was on Friday evening and he was due to travel out of Turkey by 11 pm before canceling the flight.
Hatayspor’s administrative manager Faith Ilek confirmed Christian Atsu had planned to visit his family after the Kasimpasa game, but canceled the flight after playing well and scoring his first goal for the club.
“He didn’t play against Gaziantep FK, but scored a last-minute goal in the Kasımpasa match,” Ilek told Turkish outlet Radyospor.
“Actually, he was going abroad to visit his family. But when he played well and scored, he canceled his ticket. The earthquake happened on his happiest day. He had a flight at 11pm. Canceled the ticket. There was an earthquake at 4am. Absolutely a tragedy.
Christian Atsu played for top clubs in Europe including the likes of Porto, Chelsea, Everton, Bournemouth and Newcastle.
He won the Player of the Tournament award in 2015 AFCON with Ghana national team, after helping the team reach the final of the tournament.
Condolence messages have flooded in from his former clubs and well wishers across the globe after news of his demise surfaced.
Christian Atsu established his club football career with Newcastle in the Premier League after he failed to make a single appearance for Chelsea following his move to the London club in 2013.
He called time on his international career in 2019 after winning 65 caps with the Black Stars of Ghana.
