Hadebe mourns former teammate killed during earthquake in Turkey

Warriors defender Teenage Hadebe has joined the football world to mourn his former teammate Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan who died during a devastating earthquake that truck southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday and has now killed over 19 300 people.

The Turkish international is one of the victims who were killed by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake which took place in Turkey and affected some parts of Syria earlier this week.

The tragic event claimed the lives of thousands of people including that of Turkaslan who was playing as a goalkeeper for Turkish side Yeni Malatyaspor, Hadebe’s former club.

Expressing his sorrow following the death of his former teammate, the United-States based defender said:

“Yes, he was my former teammate at Yeni Malatyaspor in Turkey that was before I completed my move to Houston Dynamo here in the United States. His (Turkaslan) death is a great loss to the football fraternity.

“I send my sincere condolences to his family, friends and all his beloved ones,” he said, “Thoughts and prayers are with the Turkaslan family. Rest easy bro.”

Malatyaspor confirmed the death of their goalkeeper in a statement.

“Our goalkeeper, Ahmet Eyup Turkaslan, lost his life after being under the collapse of the earthquake. Rest in peace. We will not forget you, beautiful person.”

Meanwhile, there is confusion over the whereabouts of Ghanaian star Christian Atsu who is reportedly missing after falling victim to the devastating earthquake.

It comes few days after the 31-year-old attacking midfielder who is on the books of Hatayspor was said to have been found under a rubble.

However, his coach Volkan Demirel has dismissed the reports saying there was mistaken identity hence the search for Atsu continues.

“There is no information on his whereabouts yet, we don’t know where he is,” Demirel told the Reuters news agency.

“It’s not the case that he was pulled out or taken anywhere else.”