Football stadium stampede kills 174
MALANG, Indonesia: At least 174 people were killed and 180 injured in a stampede and riot at a football match in Indonesia, officials said yesterday, in one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
When frustrated supporters of the losing home team invaded the pitch in Malang in the province of East Java late on Saturday, officers fired tear gas in an attempt to control the situation, triggering the stampede and cases of suffocation, East Java police chief Nico Afinta told reporters.
‘‘It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,’’ Nico said, adding that the crush occurred when fans fled for an exit gate.
Video footage from local news channels showed fans streaming on to the pitch after Arema FC lost 32 to Persebaya Surabaya around 10pm (local time). Scuffles can be seen, with what appeared to be tear gas in the air. Images showed people who appeared to have lost consciousness being carried away by other fans.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said authorities must thoroughly evaluate security at matches, adding that he hoped this would be ‘‘the last soccer tragedy in the nation’’.
He ordered the Football Association of Indonesia to suspend all games in the Indonesian top league BRI Liga 1 until an investigation.
World football’s governing body Fifa specifies in its safety regulations that no firearms or ‘‘crowd control gas’’ should be carried or used by stewards or police. East Java police did not immediately respond request for comment.
Fifa has requested a report on the incident from Indonesia’s PSSI football association, and a PSSI team has been sent to investigate, PSSI secretary general Yunus Nusi told reporters.
Indonesia’s human rights commission also plans to investigate security at the ground, its commissioner said.
Amnesty International Indonesia slammed the security measures, saying the ‘‘use of excessive force by the state . . . to contain or control such crowds to a cannot be justified at all’’.
The country’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said in an Instagram post the stadium had been filled beyond its capacity. He said 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium that is only supposed to hold 38,000.
Financial aid would be given to the injured and the families of victims, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said.
Indonesia’s football scene has been blighted by hooliganism, heavyhanded policing. and mismanagement, largely preventing the country from harnessing its potential in the sport
The Malang stadium disaster appeared to be the deadliest since 1964, when 328 people were reported dead in a riot and crush when Peru hosted Argentine at the Estadio Nacional.
In 1989, 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death when an overcrowded and fencedin enclosure collapsed at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield.
Indonesia is scheduled to host the Fifa under20 World Cup in May and June next year. — Reuters