A bus carrying the players and staff of a Togo top-flight football club has crashed killing at least six people.
The Togo Football Federation (FTF) confirmed the fatalities, as well as 25 "serious injuries", after the team bus of Etoile Filante crashed en route to an away match on Saturday. The incident occurred approximately 100 miles north of the capital Lome with reports claiming the bus fell into a ravine and burst into flames after a tyre burst.
It has not been announced whether any of the Etoile Filante players are amongst the dead. A statement from FTF read: "Togolese football has been hit by a tragedy."
It continued: "As part of the fifth day of the national football championship in first division, the team of the Etoile Filante was on their way to play against Sokode Semassi when they were the victim of a serious traffic accident this Saturday, November 26 2011 at about 11 o'clock at the entrance to Glei in the prefecture of Ogou.
"Unfortunately, we can confirm six deaths and serious injuries.
"Having learned the sad news, the president of the Togolese Football Federation [Rock Balakiyem Gnassingbe] went immediately to the scene - to inquire into the circumstances of the accident and provide support to Etoile Filante.
"The Togolese Football Federation expresses its condolences to the bereaved families and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured."
In January last year two members of the Togo national team were killed after their bus came under gun attack in Angola.
In September, 36 members of Russian ice hockey team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl were killed when the aircraft they were travelling in crashed shortly after take-off en route to a match in Belarus.
Source: PA
