The death toll from a stampede at a football match at a stadium in Indonesia’s East Java province has been revised to 125, a government official said Sunday.
East Java Deputy Governor Emil Dardak said data checked from 10 hospitals in the area showed there were 125 deaths. Earlier, officials put the number as high as 174 in one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
A police spokesman in East Java said 323 people were injured, down from the original number of 180.
When frustrated supporters of the losing home team stormed the pitch in Malang, East Java province late on Saturday, police fired tear gas in an attempt to bring the situation under control, sparking a stampede and cases of suffocation, East Java police chief Nico Afinta told reporters.
“It became anarchic. They started attacking the officers, damaging the cars,” Nico said, adding that the stampede occurred as fans fled towards the exit.
The fast “is a dark day for everyone involved in football and an incomprehensible tragedy,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in a statement issued on Sunday.
Video footage from local news channels showed fans streaming onto the pitch after Arema FC lost 3-2 to Persebaya Surabaya around 10pm. Fights are seen with what appeared to be tear gas in the air.
Images showed people who appeared to have lost consciousness being carried away by other fans.
Many of the victims at Kanjuruhan Hospital suffered from trauma, suffocation and lack of oxygen due to the large number of people at the scene who were hit by tear gas, hospital chief Bobi Prabowo said.
Bobi told Metro TV that some of the victims suffered brain injuries and that a five-year-old child was among the victims.
President Joko Widodo said authorities must thoroughly evaluate security at matches, adding that he hoped it would be “the last football tragedy in the country”.
Jokowi, as the president is known, has ordered the Indonesian Football Association, PSSI, to suspend all matches in the BRI’s top league, Liga 1, until an investigation is completed.
Tear gas rules
World soccer’s governing body FIFA states in its safety regulations that stewards and police should not carry or use any firearms or “crowd control gas”.
Police in East Java did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they were aware of such regulations.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement to Reuters that the football world was “in a state of shock following the tragic incidents that happened in Indonesia” and the event was “a dark day for all involved”.
p>FIFA has requested a report on the incident from the PSSI, which has sent a team to Malang to investigate, PSSI general secretary Yunus Nusi told reporters.
Indonesia’s human rights commission also plans to investigate security at the site, including the use of tear gas, its commissioner told Reuters.
“Many of our friends lost their lives because of officers who dehumanized us,” Muhammad Rian Dwicahyono, 22, said in tears as he nursed a broken arm at the local Kanjuruhan hospital. “Many lives were wasted.”
On Sunday, mourners gathered outside the stadium gates to lay flowers for the victims.
Amnesty International Indonesia criticized the security measures, saying that “the use of excessive force by the state… to contain or control such crowds cannot be justified at all”.
The country’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said in a post on Instagram that the stadium was filled beyond its capacity. He said 42,000 tickets had been issued for the stadium, which is designed to hold only 38,000 people.
Financial assistance will be provided to the injured and the families of the victims, East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa told reporters.
There have been problems at matches in Indonesia in the past, with strong rivalries between clubs sometimes leading to fan violence.
Zainudin Amali, Indonesia’s sports minister, told KompasTV that the ministry would review security at soccer matches, including considering banning spectators from entering stadiums.
Indonesia’s top league BRI Liga 1 has suspended matches for a week and an investigation has been launched, the Indonesian Football Association said.
Indonesia is set to host the FIFA U-20 World Cup in May and June next year. They are also one of three countries in the running to host next year’s Asian Cup, the continent’s euro equivalent, after China pulled out as hosts.
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