At least 125 people have died in a crush at a football match in Indonesia. This is one of the worst stadium disasters in the world.
Hundreds of people also got hurt after Arema FC, the home team, lost to bitter rivals at the stadium in Malang, East Java, on Saturday night.
Police used tear gas on fans who got on the field, which led to the crush.
As panic spread, thousands of people rushed for the exits of Kanjuruhan Stadium, where many people died from suffocation.
The organisation that runs football around the world, Fifa, says that no “crowd control gas” should be brought to or used at games.
After things got “tense” with the fans, one eyewitness told the BBC that police fired many rounds of tear gas “continuously and quickly.”
Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, said it was “a dark day for everyone involved in football and a tragedy that can’t be understood.”
“It had turned into chaos,” said the police. At one point, Indonesian officials said that 174 people had died in the disaster, but this number was later lowered.
President Joko Widodo has told the top league in Indonesia to stop playing until an investigation has been done.
Police used tear gas, which caused people to crowd together and some to suffocate.
Videos from the stadium show fans running onto the field after the home team lost 2-3 and police firing tear gas to stop them.
“It had turned into chaos. They started to fight with police officers and damage cars “Nico Afinta, the head of police in East Java, said that two police officers were among the people who died.
“We want to show that… not all of them were out of control. Only about 3,000 people showed up “he said.
The world’s worst stadium disaster
Fleeing fans “went out to a certain point near the door. Then it got worse. As it got worse, it got hard to breathe and there wasn’t enough oxygen “, said the officer.
Social media videos show fans climbing over fences to get away. Different videos show what look like dead bodies on the floor.
Police cars were broken.
PHOTO SOURCE: EPA
Damaged police cars were left on the field at Kanjuruhan stadium. The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had started an investigation and that the incident had “sullied the reputation of Indonesian football.”
In Indonesia, violence at football games is nothing new, and Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya have been rivals for a long time.
But fans of Persebaya Surabaya were not allowed to buy tickets to the game out of fear that there would be fights.
Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD wrote on Instagram that 42,000 tickets had been sold for the match at Kanjuruhan stadium, which can hold up to 38,000 people.
President Widodo said that this should be the “last soccer tragedy in the country.” He then stopped all Liga 1 games until an investigation could be done.
“It was bang, bang, bang,” said Muhamad Dipo Maulana, 21, an eyewitness who was at the game. He told BBC Indonesian that after the game, a few Arema fans went on the field to talk to the home team players, but they were stopped by police and “beaten.”
Muhamad Dipo Maulana
PHOTO CREDIT: BBC INDONESIAN
Muhamad Dipo Maulana said he saw people suffocating as they tried to leave the stadium. More fans then went onto the field to protest, the fan said, and the situation got “tense.”
Mr. Dipo told the BBC that police with dogs, shields, and soldiers came forward.
He said that he heard more than 20 shots of tear gas fired at people in the stadium.
“There was a lot, like bang, bang, bang! The sound kept going and moved quickly. The sound was very loud and sent to every stand, “he added.
Mr. Dipo said that he saw people running around in a panic and choking on their own breath as they tried to get out of the stadium. The tear gas hurt a lot of young children and older people, the eyewitness said.
One of football’s worst disasters
The stampede is one of the worst stadium disasters in a long list of sad ones.
In 1964, a stampede at an Olympic qualifier between Peru and Argentina in Lima killed 320 people and hurt more than 1,000.
In 1985, 39 people died and 600 were hurt at the Heysel stadium in Brussels, Belgium. During the European Cup final between Liverpool (England) and Juventus, fans were crushed against a wall that then fell (Italy).
In the UK, 97 Liverpool fans died in a crush at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield in 1989. They were there to watch their team play Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup semi-final.