In yet more sad news, Christian Atsu's club has confirmed that the player cancelled a trip to visit his family just hours before the catastrophic earthquake that took his life hit Turkey.
It was announced on Saturday that the Ghanaian winger had been found dead after going almost two weeks without being traced following the devastating tremors in Turkey and parts of Syria.
Read: Ghanaian footballer found dead after earthquake in Turkey
The disaster's death toll has already passed 46 000, according to Al Jazeera, with the event said to be Europe's deadliest in more than 100 years.
It has now been revealed that the former Ghana international could have potentially escaped the tragic event as he had planned to leave the country the day before the natural disaster hit, but changed his mind just hours before the earthquake occurred.
"Christian Atsu told the coach that he wanted to take more time before our match with Gaziantep FK," Hatayspor's administrative manager Fatih Ilek told Radyospor.
"'Can I leave if I find a team?' he said. [Hatayspor manager] Volkan Demirel also accepted this request.
"He didn't play against Gaziantep but scored a last-minute goal in the Kasimpasa match.
"Actually, he was going abroad to visit his family.
"But when he played well and scored, he cancelled his ticket.
"The earthquake happened on his happiest day.
"He had a flight at 11pm. Cancelled the ticket. There was an earthquake at 4am. Absolutely a tragedy."
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His body arrived in Ghana on Saturday, 10 days after he passed away, per the Daily Mail.
On Saturday, the 31-year-old's wife Marie-Claire Rupio and their three children joined fans in marking a minute's silence ahead of his former club Newcastle United's Premier League match against Liverpool.
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