When a terrible 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria, Christian Atsu, according to his agent, fell from the ninth floor of his apartment building.

Atsu was rescued from beneath rubble on Tuesday when a rescue team heard his voice on one recovery mission.

Now his agent has explained how 20 minutes after returning home from a poker night with team-mates, Atsu was sent plunging to the ground from the ninth floor.

'The last I heard from him was at midnight on Sunday. Christian and his team-mates were playing poker until 3:30am at a friend's apartment,' Atsu's agent, Nana Sechere, told the Mirror.

'The journey back to his apartment was around half an hour. He returned at 4am and the earthquake started around 20 minutes later. I didn't know anything until I received a call from a club official at 5am asking if I'd heard from Christian. He told me Christian's building had been completely destroyed and that they couldn't get hold of him.'