Indonesia soccer match stampede leaves at least 125 dead

At least 125 people are dead — most of them trampled in a stampede– after violent brawls erupted between opposing fans after a soccer match in Indonesia Sunday, marking one of the deadliest crowd calamities in sporting history.

Authorities initially said that 174 people had been killed in the chaos, but the death toll had been revised after officials learned that some victims had been counted twice, according to East Java Deputy Governor Emil Dardak.

Numerous fights broke out among rival fans at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java province’s Malang city just as Persebaya Surabaya defeated home team Arema Malang 3-2 in the Indonesian Premier League Match on Sunday.

In an effort to break up the fights, riot police fired tear gas which sent hundreds of panicked fans fleeing for the stadium exits, East Java Police Chief Nico Afinta said.

In the chaos, dozens of people were trampled to death instantly, while others suffocated.

Afinta said over 300 others were rushed to local hospitals, but many died on the way and during treatment.

The disaster began when fans of Arema had pelted players and officials with bottles and other objects following their loss, witnesses said. Many then flooded the field to confront the team’s management about the unwanted outcome – Armea’s first home loss to Persebaya in 23 years.

Video circulating on social media shows fans from each side of the soccer pitch sprint toward midfield, appearing ready to fight each other before riot police suddenly run between them.

Other video shows hundreds of fans frantically sprinting across the pitch for the exits, flinging themselves over barriers and desperately climbing fences.

Riot police can be seen kicking and hitting people with batons as they try to get away — and firing tear gas canisters directly into the crowd at both ends of the field.

“Officers fired tear gas directly at spectators in the stands, forcing us to run toward the exit,” said spectator Ahmad Fatoni. “Many victims fell because of shortness of breath and difficulty seeing due to tear gas and were trampled.”

Another video shot from the seats shows a whole section of the stands engulfed in tear gas as fans cry out.

Disturbing footage shows a mass of injured people packed tightly into an overwhelmed hospital, with some lying motionless on the hospital floor.

“We have already done a preventive action before finally firing the tear gas as (fans) began to attack the police, acting anarchically and burning vehicles,” Afinta said at a news conference early Sunday.

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Hooliganism and violence often run rampant at soccer matches in Indonesia, which is not known as an international powerhouse on the pitch, despite the fanataical behavior often exhibited by fans.

The country is set to host the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup next year. 

“I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this is the last soccer tragedy in this country, don’t let another human tragedy like this happen in the future,” Indonesia President Joko Widodo said in a televised speech. “We must continue to maintain sportsmanship, humanity and a sense of brotherhood of the Indonesian nation.”

Despite Indonesia’s lack of international accolades in the sport, hooliganism is rife in the soccer-obsessed country where fanaticism often ends in violence, as in the 2018 death of a Persija Jakarta supporter who was killed by a mob of hardcore fans of rival club Persib Bandung in 2018.

With Post wires