Moscow: An Indian football fan, in Russia for the World Cup, died in a car crash on Saturday on a road near the tournament host city Sochi, Interfax news agency cited sources as saying.

The incident, the first reported death of a World Cup visitor to Russia, was blamed by police on the driver, although Russian roads are notorious and claimed over 19,000 lives in 2017.

A statement released by the regional police department said a Russian taxi driver and an Indian citizen died at the scene and another Indian passenger was taken to hospital. It didn't say whether the victims held World Cup tickets.

"Around 6.50 a.m. the duty officer of the Sochi police department was informed of a traffic incident on the road between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana," the statement said.