The mystery surrounding Christian Atsu deepens as the missing star’s agent rushes to Turkey to find answers after the earthquake tragedy

CHRISTIAN Atsu’s agent has flown to Turkey to find out what happened to the player buried in the rubble of the earthquake.

The fate of the 31-year-old ex-Newcastle and Chelsea player remains a mystery. He was reportedly pulled from the rubble of his home but could not be found in hospital.

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Atsu was found alive in the rubble after falling from the ninth floor of the Kahramanmaras apartment building, his agent initially said.

And a spokesman for his club Hayatspor said on Tuesday the winger was hospitalized with unspecified injuries following a miracle rescue.

But Atsu’s agent Nana Sechere has revealed that the star’s whereabouts remain unknown and he has now traveled to Turkey.

“I am currently in Istanbul. The situation remains the same, Christian Atsu has yet to be found,” he tweeted.

“If I don’t see or speak to Christian, I don’t have any further updates.”

He previously said “we have yet to confirm Christian’s whereabouts” amid “a devastating time for his family and we are doing everything we can to locate Christian.”

Hayatspor’s doctor has said efforts to find the Ghanaian ace and the club’s sporting director Taner Savut in hospital had proved fruitless – prompting fears he could still be in danger.

“When we heard the news about Taner Savut and Christian Atsu being taken to Dortyol Hospital, we went to the hospital and they weren’t there,” Gurbey Kahveci said, according to Hurriyet.

He added that “unfortunately, Taner and Christian Atsu” are currently “not found.”

Adding to the confusion, the doctor’s comment comes even though Ghana’s ambassador to Turkey said she had been told by officials that the player had been found.

The massive 7.8 magnitude quake got stuck early Monday with such force that it moved the country 10 feet.

The death toll has now crossed the 17,000 threshold, as one expert warned that statistically today is the day rescue workers stop finding people alive.

Two more earthquakes struck within 24 hours of the first, leaving a trail of destruction that stretched for hundreds of kilometers along Turkey’s Syrian border.

The video showed rescuers with searchlights searching the rubble of Atsu’s apartment block on Monday evening.

His voice was then heard in the rubble, along with that of Hatayspor’s sporting director Taner Savut, local media reported.

Sechere said he last heard from Atsu around midnight on Sunday, just before the quake hit around 4:20 a.m.

“Christian and his teammates played poker at a friend’s house until 3:30 a.m.,” he told The Mirror.

“The drive back to his apartment took about half an hour.

“He came back at 4 a.m. and the earthquake started about 20 minutes later.

“I was hoping that he was awake and that the earthquake hadn’t happened while he was sleeping. He was in an 11 story building and he was on the ninth floor.”

The London-based agent said he received a call at 5am from a club official asking if he had heard from the player.

“He told me that Christian’s building had been completely destroyed and that he could not be reached,” he said.

“The club officials tried to help me find him, but it was so difficult because, understandably, they were also trying to find their own friends and families.”

Eventually he received confirmation from the club that Atsu was safe by 6am Tuesday morning.

“They told me he was in the hospital and that he was stable,” he said.

After Sechere’s initial comments, Ambassador Francisca Ashietey-Odunton told Ghana TV that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here has assured me that he has been found.”

Just hours before the tremor struck, Atsu scored well into injury time in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Kasimpasa.

“Important win for the team. Happy to be on the top scorers list,” he tweeted.

The footage showed Atsu being bullied by his teammates while adoring fans celebrated the win, along with messages asking him to be found.

Bighearted Sun readers have raised £500,000 so far in response to the devastation.

All funds from the Sun Earthquake Appeal will be donated to the British Red Cross for a major local mobilization.

Atsu joined Chelsea from Porto in 2013 for £3.5m but has not made a single appearance for the Premier League giants.

He also recorded loans from Vitesse, Everton, Bournemouth, Malaga and Newcastle.

And the Magpies made his contract permanent in 2017 after Atsu played a key role in their promotion from the Championship.

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