In Indonesia, after violent clashes in the stadium in Malang, a serious disaster broke out. Officials speak of 174 deaths.
The disaster happened on Saturday evening (01/10/2022, local time) after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya at the stadium in Malang in the Indonesian province of East Java.
According to police, Arema fans stormed the field after their club’s 3-2 defeat. The police then said they tried to persuade the fans to return to the stands and finally fired tear gas into the crowd. According to the police, this triggered mass panic when many fans tried to flee the stadium.
At one exit there was a traffic jam and “shortness of breath and lack of oxygen,” said local police chief Nico Afinta. Many of the victims were therefore trampled to death.
174 dead, 180 injured after mass panic in the stadium
As the deputy governor of the region, Emir Dardak, announced on Indonesian television on Sunday, the number of dead has now risen to 174. Two police officers were among the dead, the Indonesian police said on Sunday. In addition, 180 people were injured. 34 people died in the stadium, the others died in the hospital. The Guardian quoted a hospital chief as saying the youngest fatality was five years old.
Around 3,000 people stormed the square, it said: “We would like to point out that not all were anarchic, there were only about 3000 who entered the fieldsaid local police chief Nico Afinta.
FIFA: “No tear gas in the stadium”
Photos from around the stadium show burnt and wrecked cars, including a police vehicle. Videos of the riots on social media show the massive use of tear gas in the stadium. It is unclear to what extent the deaths are directly related to the use of tear gas. The world association FIFA pointed out loudly BBC In a first statement, it was pointed out that tear gas should not be used by security forces and the police to control fan movements in the stadium.
Indonesia’s government: More spectators in the stadium than allowed
The Kanjuruhan Stadium holds a total of 38,000 spectators and was sold out according to the authorities. The BBC quoted an Indonesian minister as saying that the number of spectators allowed in the stadium had been exceeded by 4,000.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered a security review of the country’s football games in the wake of the disaster. The country’s sports and youth minister, the national police chief and the head of the Indonesian Football Association were ordered to “Conduct a thorough assessment of football matches and security procedures‘ Widodo said in a televised statement.’This is said to be the country’s last stadium tragedy” said the President.
Violent clashes have erupted several times in Indonesian football, and Arema and Persebaya fans are considered rivals. The Indonesian Football Association suspended first division games for a week. He also banned Arema FC from playing home games for the rest of the season.
The tragedy in Malang is considered one of the worst sports stadium disasters in the world. In 1964, a stampede during an Olympic qualifying match between Peru and Argentina at the National Stadium in Lima killed 320 and injured more than 1,000. In 2012, 74 people died in a stadium riot in Port Said, Egypt, after a football match. The 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield killed 97 Liverpool fans.