A bus crash has killed two members of Algerian Ligue 1 side Mouloudia El Bayadh, late Wednesday evening, forcing the national football federation to reschedule all games planned for this week across all divisions.
The Algerian state news agency revealed that the accident killed El Bayadh goalkeeper, Zakaria Bouziani, aged 27, and the team’s assistant coach, Khalid Muftah.
Bouziani, a substitute goalkeeper, had made two league appearances this season.
According to local media, the bus carrying the team tipped over in the town of Sougueur in northwestern Algeria while on its way to Tizi Ouzou to face JSK Kabylie in a league game on Friday.
The club had afterwards, taken to Facebook to reveal that other injured members were in stable conditions.
“The Federation has also decided to reschedule the draw ceremony for the 32nd and 16th rounds of the Algerian Cup till a later date.”
Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the Algerian President had said in a statement that he received the news of the tragedy with “deepest pain and sorrow”, and then commiserated with the families of the victims.
El Bayadh is placed sixth in the Algerian league table with 15 points from 10 games, 12 adrift of runaway leaders MC Alger.