At least 125 people have died in a crash at an Indonesian football match that has become one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
Hundreds were also hurt in aftermath of home team Arema FC’s loss to bitter rivals at the overcrowded stadium late on Saturday in Malang, East Java.
The crash took place after police tear-gassed fans who invaded the pitch.
As panic spread, thousands surged towards Kanjuruhan stadium’s exits, where many suffocated.
Fifa, the world’s governing football body, states that no “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police at matches.
The organization’s president Gianni Infantino said it was “a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension”.
One eyewitness told the BBC that police had fired numerous tear gas rounds “continuously and fast” after the situation with fans became “tense”.
Next to one exit gate, a hole smashed through the wall testifies to the desperation to escape the crush that developed.
There are candles next to the gate, put there by supporters to remember the victims.
The doors themselves are slanted outwards, a sign of the sheer level of force from the inside.
‘It had gotten anarchic’ – Police
Indonesian officials at one stage put the death toll in the disaster as high at 174 people, but this was later revised downwards.
President Joko Widodo has ordered that all matches in Indonesia’s top league must be stopped until an investigation has been carried out.
Videos from the stadium show fans running onto the pitch after the final whistle marked the home team’s 2-3 defeat, and police firing tear gas in response.
“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” said Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java, adding that two police officers were among the dead.
“We would like to convey that… not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 entered the pitch,” he said.
The world’s worst stadium disaster
Fleeing fans “went out to one point at the exit. Then there was a build-up, in the process of accumulation there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen”, the officer added.
Videos on social media show fans clambering over fences to escape. Separate videos appear to show lifeless bodies on the floor.
Source:bbc.com
