Czech international striker Josef Sural has been killed after a bus carrying several of Turkish club Aytemiz Alanyaspor’s players crashed.
Sural, 28, died at the hospital where he and six of his team-mates were taken after a bus carrying them back from a game at Kayserispor crashed on Sunday.
Seven of the Super Lig’s club’s players had rented the private minibus.
Club chairman Hasan Cavusoglu claimed the driver of the mini bus had fallen asleep at the wheel.
A second on-board driver was also reportedly asleep when the accident happened around three miles from the club’s home city of Alanya.
On Twitter, the club posted: “We have learned with deep sorrow that Josef Sural lost his life as a result of an accident carrying seven football players from Alanyaspor.”
Cavusoglu said the six other players on board were not in a critical condition.
Former Spurs, Cardiff and QPR defender Steven Caulker and ex-Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse play for Alanyaspor.
Caulker scored in the 1-1 draw at Kayserispor but it is not yet known whether he and Cisse were among the group of players who chose to use the minibus, while the rest of the club’s players and staff travelled on a team bus or on their own.
Sural joined Alanyaspor from Sparta Prague in January.
He made 20 appearances for his country, last featuring in their Nations League defeat by Ukraine in October.
The Football Association of the Czech Republic said news of Sural’s death brought “great sorrow”, adding: “We will never forget you.”
