Tragedy with basketball team leaves 7 dead in Ceará An accident with a bus carrying a basketball team left seven dead and more than 30 injured in Ceará. The accident occurred around 3 am on a section of CE-187, a state highway in Tauá. The ADJ Transportes bus was carrying 46 passengers: young athletes and members of the coaching staff of a basketball team in Juazeiro do Norte. They were returning from a championship in Sobral, where the team had won the under-19 category title hours before the tragedy. 📱Bookmark g1 on Google and follow the main news of the day Accident with bus carrying basketball team leaves 7 dead in Ceará National Newspaper/ Reproduction The accident occurred on a stretch of highway, a straight one. According to firefighters, the bus left the road, fell over the slope and slid for a few meters. Passengers occupying the left-hand window seats suffered the greatest impact. Seven died instantly; six were players and were between 15 and 18 years old. Mateus had turned 15 last week. "It was 15 years that God gave me as a gift, but the day has come. We only have to regret it", says Siloé Martins, Mateus' father. Thirty-one passengers went to area hospitals. Three remain hospitalized. The driver Leandro da Silva had minor injuries, gave a statement and was released. He said he tried to avoid an animal that entered the road, hit a water drainage hole and lost control of the bus. GloboPop: click to see videos from the Jornal Nacional stage READ ALSO Seven basketball team members die in a bus accident in Ceará; dozens are injured School that lost athletes in a fall and seven deaths had another bus accident 12 days ago; two people remain hospitalized Basketball team that lost athletes in a bus accident in Ceará had been champion hours before