At least 129 people were killed and 180 injured at a soccer match in Indonesia when panicked fans were trampled and crushed trying to flee a riot, authorities said Sunday, in what appears to be the worst stadium disaster in half a century
Key Points:
- Some people suffocated in the chaos of the football stadium and others were trampled trying to escape through a single exit.
- More than 300 were rushed to nearby hospitals
- Among the more than 100 dead were at least two policemen
Video footage from local news channels showed fans streaming onto the Malang Stadium pitch after the Indonesian Premier League match ended, with Persebaya Surabaya defeating Arema Malang 3-2.
Disappointed at the loss, thousands of supporters threw bottles and other objects at players and referees before storming the pitch.
In response, authorities fired tear gas, leading to a stampede of crowds and cases of suffocation, East Java police chief Nico Afinta told reporters.
Hundreds of people reportedly ran to an exit door in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chaos and others were trampled.
Plainclothes officers stand near the remains of police vehicles damaged during the clashes. (AP: Yudha Prabowo)
More than 300 people were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment of their injuries, but many died en route or during treatment, Afinta said.
According to the police chief, at least two policemen were among the dead.
“Thirty-four people died inside the stadium and the rest died in the hospital,” Afinta said.
The head of one of the hospitals in the area treating patients told Metro TV that some of the victims had suffered brain injuries and that a five-year-old boy was among the dead.
Images posted on social media showed a crowd of spectators running onto the field. Moments later, police with shields and batons ran onto the field toward the crowd.
Police could be seen kicking and beating people with batons as they tried to flee the field.
Police fired tear gas after clashes broke out. (AP: Yudha Prabowo)
Tear gas then fills the air on the field and in the stadiums. Footage shows people who appear to have lost consciousness being carried away by other fans.
The images, released by several local media outlets showing the scene from various angles, could not immediately be verified by the ABC.
Investigate security issues
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said authorities must thoroughly assess security at matches, adding that he hoped this would be “the nation’s last football tragedy”.
Widodo ordered the Indonesian Football Association to suspend all matches in Indonesia’s BRI League League 1 until an investigation was completed.
World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, specifies in its safety rules that no firearms or “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police.
Police in East Java did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they were aware of these regulations, but Indonesia’s human rights commission planned to investigate security on the ground, including the use of tear gas , its commissioner told Reuters.
The country’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said in a post on Instagram that the stadium had been filled beyond capacity. He said 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium that should only hold 38,000 people.
Financial aid would be given to the injured and the families of the victims, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa told reporters.
There have been outbreaks of trouble at matches in Indonesia before, with strong rivalries between clubs that have sometimes led to violence among fans.
Persebaya fans had been ejected from the match, a restriction imposed after clashes between supporters of the two rival teams in February 2020 resulted in damage totaling more than $25,000.
Despite Indonesia’s lack of international acclaim in the sport, hooliganism is widespread in the soccer-obsessed country, where fanaticism often ends in violence, as in the 2018 death of a Persija Jakarta fan who was killed by a crowd of hardcore fans of rival club Persib Bandung. in 2018.
Police cordoned off the area outside the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, where vehicles could be seen set on fire after the riots. (AFP: PUTRI)
ABC/children