Six dead in football team bus crash

Six footballers from Togo were killed after a team bus plunged into a ravine and caught fire
12 April 2012

At least six topflight footballers have been killed and another 28 people are critically injured after a bus carrying players and officials from the Etoile Filante club plunged into a ravine and caught fire, Togo's government said.

In a statement read on national television, the government said Togo president Faure Gnassingbe had ordered that the injured be taken to a military hospital in the capital Lome.

The accident happened near the city of Atakpame, about 99 miles north of Lome, as Etoile Filante was on its way to Sokode for Sunday's league game against Semassi.

A tyre is believed to have burst, causing the bus to flip over and plunge down a ravine. Some of the victims reportedly burnt to death.

A delegation, led by sports minister Christophe Tchao, travelled to the accident site with an ambulance to evacuate the injured.

"We do not know how we managed to get out of the accident," said one of the survivors, goalkeeper Mama Souleyman.

Images on Togo national television showed the smouldering wreckage of the bus, which was almost completely burnt to ashes.

The Lome-based Etoile Filante are a seven-time Togo national league champions and were runners-up in Africa's continental club competition in 1968.

Last year, two Togo national team officials were killed and several players hurt after a gun attack on the team's bus as it travelled to the African Cup of Nations tournament in Angola.

In 2007, Togo sports minister Richard Attipoe was among 22 people who died when a helicopter carrying Togolese football fans and officials crashed in Sierra Leone after an African Cup qualifying match.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in