Czech Republic international footballer Josef Sural, 28, was killed and six other Alanyaspor players were injured Monday when their van was involved in an accident on the way home from a Turkish league soccer match.
Sural died in the hospital. The six other players were reported to be in stable condition and were reported to be suffering from small fractures and cuts.
Club chairman Hasan Cavusoglu claimed the driver of the mini bus had fallen asleep at the wheel.
Sural and his six teammates had hired a private luxury van to return from a game at Kayserispor in central Turkey. The crash occurred near the entrance to the town of Alanya, on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.
State-run Anadolu Agency said the van veered off the road and overturned. It identified the injured players as Wanderson Baiano, the former Spurs, Cardiff and QPR defender Steven Caulker, Isaac Sackey, the ex-Newcastle striker Papiss Demba Cisse, Welinton Souza and Djalma Campos.
Sural had two young daughters
Sural, a forward who made his debut for the Czech Republic national team in 2013, joined Alanyaspor in January.
The Turkish soccer federation said a minute’s silence would be observed for Sural at the start of this week’s league games.
