At least 125 people have been killed and 180 injured at a football match in Malang, East Java in Indonesia, in what is now being described as one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
Home team Arema FC lost to their bitter rivals Persebaya Surabaya leading fans to grow violent and storm the pitch, attacking police officers and vehicles. The police responded by firing tear gas into the massively overcrowded stands, causing a surge towards the exit of the Kanjuruhan Stadium’s exit, where many suffocated to death.
#Breaking: Just in - At least 108 people confirmed dead after a football match between Arema and Persebaya in #Indonesia, after they were cornered by riot police after a clash, and got tear gassed, with no other place to run or hide and dying of oxygen shortages duo to the gas. pic.twitter.com/S9mEPJVpUg
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) October 1, 2022
42,000 tickets were reportedly sold for the match, 4,000 more than the stated stadium capacity of 38,000.
The use of tear-gas by police during football matches is banned by FIFA, the world’s governing football body, which says that it should not be carried out by stewards or police. Deaths ultimately came as a result of repeated use of tear gas, as well as unprecedented violence by Arema FC football supporters, who set upon members of the police.
#Update: I woke out to find out that at least 174 people have died in this tragedy in #Indonesia, after riot police cornered fans after a riot broke out, launched extremely a lot of tear gas, with fans no where to run and hide, causing a stampede and people having lack of oxygen. pic.twitter.com/If5AbRFeaZ
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) October 2, 2022
“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” said Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java. Two police officers are among the dead. “We would like to convey that… not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 people entered the pitch.”
According to the BBC, the police fired tear gas continuously into the stands in a bid to stop the violence, which only ultimately forced more people towards their deaths in the ensuing crush. 10 police vehicles were destroyed by the football hooligans.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the crush was “a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension.” The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said that it had launched an investigation, noting that the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football.”
Footage circulating on social media shows lifeless bodies on the floors of the stadium as well as chaotic scenes in nearby hospitals. In response to the disaster, riots are reported to have broken out in front of police stations across the country.
For many in Belgium, this incident will be reminiscent of the 1985 disaster at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, when fans crushed against a wall during a match between Liverpool and Juventus, resulting in the death of 39 and 600 injuries.
