Czech international striker Josef Sural, who played for Turkish club Alanyaspor, was killied in a minibus crash early Monday.
ADVERTISEMENTCzech international footballer Josef Sural was killed and six team-mates were injured early Monday when their minivan crashed on the way home from a Turkish league match.
The 28-year-old striker, who played for Turkish club Alanyaspor and was the father of two young girls, died in hospital during emergency surgery.
Seven Alanyaspor players had rented the minivan to return from the club's 1-1 draw against Kayserispor on Sunday and the bus crashed 5 km from the southern coastal town of Alanya.
The rest of the club's players and staff had returned with the team bus or on their own, Turkey news agency Anadolu reported, adding that the driver of the minivan had been detained following the accident and an investigation has been launched.
"Seven of our footballers had rented a private vehicle," he told reporters. "Unfortunately, at the entrance to town, despite the fact that there were two drivers in the vehicle, the accident occurred as a result of both of them sleeping."
State-run Anadolu Agency identified the injured players as Wanderson Baiano, Steven Caulker, Isaac Sackey, Papiss Demba Cisse, Welinton Souza and Djalma Campos.
The Turkish football federation said a minute's silence would be observed for Sural at the start of this week's league games.
Alanyaspor said on Twitter that a special ceremony would be held later on Monday, attended by Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
Sural, who previously played for AC Sparta Praha and Slovan Liberec, earned at least 20 international caps playing for his country