Three youth players from Colo-Colo's official soccer school have died following a bus crash in Argentina, the Chilean club have confirmed.
Colo-Colo Lo Boza were travelling to Paraguay for a youth tournament in the early hours of the morning.
The bus that the team and their delegation were travelling in was involved in a traffic collision in the Mendoza region of western Argentina, with the vehicle coming off the road.
Colo-Colo confirmed the incident on their official Twitter account and offered their condolences to the families of those involved.
Lamentamos profundamente la tragica muerte de 3 ninos, miembros de una delegacion deportiva de la escuela de futbol Colo-Colo Lo Boza de la comuna de Quilicura. Enviamos un abrazo fraterno y nuestras condolencias a sus familias, amigos y a todos los integrantes de dicha escuela.February 2, 2018
"We deeply regret the tragic death of three children, members of a sports delegation of the Colo-Colo Lo Boza football school in the commune of Quilicura," they wrote.
"We send a fraternal hug and our condolences to their families, friends and all the members of that school.
"We inform that at this moment an official delegation is on the way to the place of events, headed by [club officials] Raul Ormeno, Luis Chupete Hormazabal and Ricardo Lobos, to see the situation in situ and to plan the help of Colo-Colo to the affected families."
Colo-Colo and Chile star Jorge Valdivia also expressed his sadness.
"Quiero enviar mis mas sentidas condolencias a los familiares y amigos de los chicos de la escuela de Colo-Colo Lo Boza fallecidos en este tragico accidente. Me duele en el alma la pérdida de estos tres colocolinos de corazon..." q Dios los reciba y proteja a sus familiasFebruary 2, 2018
Writing on Twitter, he said: "I want to send my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the boys at the school of Colo-Colo Lo Boza who died in this tragic accident. It hurts in my soul the loss of these three who were Colocolinos [Colo-Colo fans] at heart."
