At least eight players and staff of a Guinean second-division team died on Thursday in a minibus crash, a medical source said.

The club, Etoile de Guinee, is owned by Pascal Feindouno, who played 93 times for the country and spent six seasons at Bordeaux and four with Saint-Etienne.

The vehicle "skidded before hitting a tree on the winding road," Alpha Mamoudou Diallo, a farmer told AFP.

The accident occurred near the city of Mamou as the team, which is based in Conakry, travelled across the country to Kankan to play Karifamoryah on Saturday in the first match of the season.

"There are eight dead and wounded, including footballers, members of the management and others.

Four footballers died instantly and the other victims died at the hospital in Mamou," a medical source told AFP adding that "the death toll may increase given the severity of the injuries".