The Turkish government has announced the suspension of all sporting events following a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the country’s south and northern Syria at dawn this Monday.
“All scheduled national competitions are canceled until further notice,” Youth and Sports Minister Mehmet Muharrem Kasapoglu said on his Twitter account, also expressing solidarity with the entire country.
The cancellation of the competition, announced by the government this Monday, comes after the Football League also announced it, as well as the organization of the Tour of Antalya, a cycling event that was due to take place from Thursday.
According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this is already the strongest earthquake in Turkey since 1939, when there are reports of more than 1,500 dead and countless missing, many of them under the rubble.
The Turkish press reported that dozens of athletes from football, volleyball, handball and wrestling were in the ruins of the buildings, pointing to the rescue of goalkeeper Ahmet Eyüp Turkarslan in the city of Malatya, who was with his wife, and footballer Christian Atsu, a former player of FC Porto , who went missing among the rubble in Khatai, along with the sports director of Hatayspor, Taner Savut.
Information released by the Turkish press also shows that most of the Eastern Anatolia volleyball team will be buried under the ruins of the Kircuval Hotel in Malatya where they stayed, only three were saved.
A tragic scene that also involves the women’s volleyball team from Hatay and football players from the Turkish second division missing, as well as several fighters from Karamamaras and international handball player Cemal Kutahya.
The earthquake struck at 4:17 am (1:17 am in Lisbon) 33 km from the provincial capital of Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey at a depth of 17.9 km.
This Monday’s quake recorded a magnitude of 7.8 and dozens of aftershocks were felt, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Official information reports the collapse of buildings in the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama and in the Turkish Diyarbakir, more than 300 kilometers from the epicenter.
More than 900 buildings were destroyed in the Turkish provinces of Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras, according to government sources.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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