JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - A crash between two buses in the north of South Africa Sunday, November 11, killed four second-tier national league footballers, police said.

A bus carrying around 25 members of the Polokwane City team crashed into a bus of Zimbabwean churchgoers between the northern city of Polokwane and the town of Mankweng, police spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

"Four players were declared dead on the spot, one critically injured, and then six are in hospital with minor injuries," he said.

"There was a van that was in front of the (footballers') bus. It was driving very slowly. The bus driver apparently swerved to avoid hitting this van, but then he went to the other side of the road, where it collided with an oncoming bus," Mulaudzi told AFP.

None of the churchgoers were injured, he said.

Polokwane were returning home after playing a friendly match. - Agence France-Presse