An Indian football fan, who was in Russia for the FIFA World Cup 2018, died in a car crash in the Kuban region.
An Indian football fan, who was in Russia for the FIFA World Cup 2018, died in a car crash near the tournament host city, Sochi, an Indian official said on Sunday.
It was also the first reported death of a FIFA visitor in the country. The accident took place on Saturday when Portugal were trounced by Uruguay in the second game of the knockout stages of the tournament.
An Indian citizen was killed in the accident in the Kuban region, an Indian Embassy official told PTI over phone.
The official said that the Embassy is in touch with the victim's family. The mission is also helping the family to transport the body to India.
Russian News Agency RIA Novosti reported, “A passenger car and a bus collided on the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana route around 6:50 am (local) on Saturday. The Russian driver and one of the passengers of the car, a citizen of India, died.” It identified the Indian victim as Aditya Ranjan.
The body will be sent to India after completing all formalities, including an autopsy tomorrow, the report added.
The condition of another Indian who was injured in the accident is stable.
Saturday also saw two of the best footballers, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo getting knocked out of the World Cup on the same night. While Argentina lost 2-4 to France, Portugal were beaten 1-2 by Uruguay in Round of 16.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos said he hoped Ronaldo would continue with the national team, which he said shared the sadness of the Portuguese people after their elimination.
“We know that in Portugal, the squares are full, the people are together and rooting for us and we feel their presence here, so a word to the Portuguese people - we are very sad that we weren't able to make it," he added.
(With PTI inputs)
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