More than 1,300 people have been reported dead after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, with a number of towns and cities in the south of the country affected
Following an earthquake that purportedly left Turkish goalkeeper Eyup Turkaslan stranded under debris after shaking both Turkey and Syria, the wife of Hatayspor manager Volkan Demirel sent a sorrowful message.
According to officials, the calamity has claimed the lives of over 1,300 people and injured 6,000 more. Hours after the initial earthquake, a large aftershock with a magnitude of 7.5 struck southern Turkey. According to reports, it was once more felt in both Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria
According to reports, two hospitals in the Hatay province, which is located south of Kahramanmaras, have collapsed. The football team Turkaslan plays for, Yeni Malatyaspor, posted a picture of the goalkeeper with the remark, "Our prayers are with you."
“Hatay is in a very bad way,” Zeynep Sever Demirel said in a video shared on social media. A number of her friends were believed to still be trapped under rubble, raising fears that more footballers could also be affected by the disaster.
Yeni Malatyaspor shared an earlier message before their show of support for Turkaslan. "We wish God's mercy on our citizens who lost their lives in the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and felt in our city, and we wish a quick recovery to our injured citizens," it read.
According to Haber Global, footballers from the Marasspor team may have been staying in a hotel destroyed in the aftermath of the earthquake. A men's volleyball team and a girls' under-14 volleyball team were also reportedly affected, with some survivors being pulled from the rubble.
A number of wrestlers are also believed to be trapped, according to Birgun. Taha Akgul, an Olympic champion wrestler from Turkey, has called for help amid suggestions between 30 and 40 of the athletes have been affected.
