174 dead and 200 injured at East Java stadium disaster
174 dead and 200 injured at the Kanjuruhan stadium football stadium.
More than 174 people have died and 200 more were injured in a stampede at an Indonesian football match that has become one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
The aftermath of the football match, where the home team Arema FC’s 2-3 loss to bitter rivals Persebaya Surabaya, at the overcrowded stadium late on Saturday in Malang, East Java.
The stampede took place after police tear-gassed fans who invaded the pitch, as panic spread, thousands surged towards Kanjuruhan stadium exits, where many were suffocated.
Fifa, the world’s governing body, states that no “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police at matches.
However, police fired numerous tear gas rounds continuously and fast after the situation with fans became out of control.
President Joko Widodo has ordered that all matches in Indonesia’s top league must be stopped until an investigation has been carried out.
“ It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars. Only 3,000 entered the pitch” said Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java and two police officers were among the dead.
Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football”.
According to Chief Security minister Mahfud MD who posted on Instagram that 42, 000 tickets had been sold for the match at Kanjuruhan Stadium which has a maximum capacity of 38, 000.
In 1964, 320 people were killed and more than 1, 000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier in Lima. In 1984 39 people died and 600 were injured at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium during the European Cup final between Liverpool (England) and Juventus (Italy). In UK 97 were crushed and died at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, during a FA Cup Semifinal Liverpool against Nottingham Forest.
