

CARACAS, Venezuela — Former major league players Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo were killed in a car crash in Venezuela caused by highway bandits who then robbed them, officials said Friday.

The 33-year-old Valbuena and 37-year-old Castillo died late Thursday when their SUV crashed as it tried to veer around an object on the road, Yaracuy state Gov. Julio Leon Heredia said on his Twitter account. Officials said some bandits place or throw objects on highways to force vehicles to stop or crash so they can rob the occupants.

Heredia said four people have been detained after being found with property of the athletes.


Third baseman Carlos Rivero was in the car and survived, according to the website beisbolplay.






Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said in a tweet that “I join in the mourning that has overwhelmed the Venezuelan baseball family and all of its fans.”

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred issued a statement calling it “a very sad day for our sport.”

“It is clear by all the stories today that they loved baseball and made an impact on their teammates and the Clubs they represented,” he said, expressing “my deepest condolences to their families, friends and fans, particularly those in their native Venezuela.”

By late Friday afternoon, the coffins with the players’ bodies had arrived in Antonio Herrera Gutierrez stadium in Barquisimeto where they were received amid tears by their teammates. A Mass was held to bid them good bye.

The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League announced that all three scheduled games Friday were cancelled and it said flags will fly at half-staff in all stadiums for three days.

League president Juan Jose Avila told Union Radio that he was evaluating the possibility of forbidding players from travelling in private cars to move between games, saying if the players had been on the team bus, “nothing would have happened to them.”

Venezuelan teams tend to travel in buses protected by security forces.

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