Turkiye quake claims life of Ghanaian soccer ace Atsu

'Special person'

"We will not forget you, Atsu. Peace be upon you, beautiful person."

Earlier in his career he spent four seasons at Chelsea, mostly out on loan, before a permanent transfer to Newcastle in 2017.

On Saturday, Atsu's wife Marie-Claire Rupio and his three children were in the stands at St James' Park to join the tribute to the player before Newcastle's Premier League match against Liverpool.

With Atsu's face displayed on the video scoreboard and fans chanting "you'll never walk alone", Rupio wiped away tears during a moving minute's applause from the 52,000 capacity crowd as one fan held up a Newcastle shirt bearing the star's name.

Chelsea issued a statement declaring: "It is with enormous sadness that Chelsea Football Club receives the news that Christian Atsu is confirmed as one of the many victims of the dreadful earthquake in Turkiye and Syria."

'Finest ambassador'

On the international stage Atsu earned the first of his 65 senior caps with Ghana in 2012.

At the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations he scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Guinea in the quarterfinals. The Black Stars reached the final, losing on penalties to the Cote d'Ivoire with Atsu picking up both the Player and the Goal of the tournament awards.

He was also part of the Ghana squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Search and rescue workers found Atsu's body in the ruins of the Ronesans Residence, a high-rise block of luxury apartments in Antakya city in Hatay.

Amid a swath of similar arrests in the wake of the disaster, Turkish police took the building's contractor into custody at Istanbul airport last week, as he appeared to be heading to Montenegro, according to state news agency Anadolu.

African soccer governing body CAF said it mourned "the tragic passing of Christian Atsu" while Ghana's Football Federation noted "the sad news" had come "after almost two weeks of emotional torture".

Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said "football has lost one of its finest ambassadors, one who will be difficult to replace".

                                                                                                          AFP