The body of Ghanaian football player Christian Atsu, who died in the earthquake in Turkey, was repatriated to Ghana.
Photo: Profimedia
A casket containing the remains of Christian Atsu in Ghana.
The casket with the remains arrived in the capital, Accra, late Sunday evening. This was stated by the Vice President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, who led the government delegation.
Atsu’s body was flown on a Turkish Airlines plane and was accompanied by family members and the Ghanaian ambassador to Turkey.
“This loss is very painful and a sad day for Ghana. We all prayed. We lived in hope every day that passed. But God knows best,” Bawumia said.
The day after the earthquake, there were reports that Atsu was found alive in the rubble, but they were untrue. Bawumia promised that Atsu would be given a dignified burial.
Read also Even the last hope was extinguished. A football representative was found dead in Turkey
The Ghana Football Association has ordered every professional match in the West African country to begin with a minute’s silence on Saturday in honor of the 31-year-old footballer.
Atsu is survived by his wife Marie-Claire and three children. They were invited to Liverpool’s weekend game with Newcastle, for which he played 121 games. As fans applauded him, cameras in the stands caught his wife fighting back tears and comforting her two sons (video at 0:20).
The late Atsu has already been honored by his compatriot Mohammed Kudus, who on Sunday after scoring a goal for Ajax Amsterdam against Sparta Rotterdam (4:0) showed a white T-shirt with the inscription “RIP Atsu” under his shirt.
Atsu was found dead in the rubble of a 12-story luxury building in the southern Turkish city of Antakya on Saturday, nearly two weeks after a devastating earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. As of Monday, this claimed almost 47,000 lives, the DPA agency reported.
