Togo top footballers killed in bus crash

Leading Togo football players were among at least six people killed when a bus plunged into a ravine and caught fire, officials have said.The accident happened 100 miles (160km) north of the capital, Lome, as the Etoile Filante [Shooting Star] team was travelling to a match.A number of people were also seriously injured in the incident.Reports said that a tyre burst before the bus toppled over and fell down the ravine.The accident happened on Saturday near the city of Atakpame."We do not know how we managed to get out of the accident," said one of the survivors, goalkeeper Mama Souleyman, according to AP.The names of those who died were not immediately known.Images broadcast on Togolese national television showed the smouldering wreckage of the bus, almost completely burnt to ashes.Those injured have reportedly been ordered to be taken to a military hospital in the capital, Lome, by President Faure Gnassingbe.Last year, two members of the Togo national football squad, and an Angolan bus driver, were killed after the team bus was attacked by separatist rebels in Angola.In 2007, Togo Sports Minister Richard Attipoe was among 22 people who died when a helicopter carrying Togolese soccer fans and officials crashed in Sierra Leone after an African Cup qualifying match.