One of the deadliest stadium tragedies in history occurred at an Indonesian football game, where at least 125 people perished in a crush.
In the aftermath of the home team Arema FC’s defeat to ferocious rivals at the packed stadium late on Saturday in Malang, East Java, hundreds were also harmed.
After police used tear gas to disperse people who had entered the pitch, the crush occurred.
Thousands rushed towards the exits of Kanjuruhan stadium as panic ensued; several of them 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 organisation’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.
A hole next to the exit gates that were closed testifies to the desperation of those inside
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.
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 on to 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 who entered the pitch,” he said.
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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.
The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding that the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football”.
Violence at football matches is not new in Indonesia, and Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are long-time rivals.
However Persebaya Surabaya fans were banned from buying tickets for the game because of fears of clashes.
Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD posted on Instagram that 42,000 tickets had been sold for the match at Kanjuruhan stadium, which has a stated capacity of 38,000.
President Widodo called for this to be the “last soccer tragedy in the nation” after ordering that all Liga 1 games should be paused pending an investigation.
‘It was bang, bang, bang’ – Eyewitness
Muhamad Dipo Maulana, 21, who was at the match, told BBC Indonesian that after the game had ended a few Arema fans went on the pitch to remonstrate with the home team players but were immediately intercepted by police and “beaten”.
More spectators then took to the pitch in protest, the supporter said, adding that the situation became “tense”.
“Police with dogs, shields, and soldiers came forward,” Mr Dipo told the BBC.
He said he had heard more than 20 tear gas shots towards spectators at the stadium.
According to Muhamad Dipo Maulana, he witnessed spectators suffocate as they attempted to exit the stadium.
“There was a lot of banging noises. The sound came quickly and continuously. All of the stands were affected by the loud sound “Added he.
Mr. Dipo claimed to have observed spectators scrambling, panicked, and suffocating as they attempted to exit the stadium. The eyewitness claimed that many youngsters and elderly persons were impacted by the tear gas.
The stampede is one of a tragically long list of stadium mishaps, ranking among the worst.
At a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifying match in Lima in 1964, a stampede resulted in 320 fatalities and more than 1,000 injuries.
In 1985, 600 people died ,Scene at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium during the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool when spectators were pushed up against a wall that later fell (Italy).
At the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, England, a crush occurred in 1989, killing 97 Liverpool supporters who were there for their team’s FA Cup semifinal match against Nottingham Forest.
Source: BBC