Fans of Javanese clubs and longtime rivals Arema and Persebay Surabaya clashed after Arema were defeated 3:2 in a match in Malang Regency, East Java.
Fans of the defeated club stormed the pitch and police fired tear gas, leading to a stampede and suffocation, said East Java police chief Niko Afinta.
Thirty-four people died at the Kanjuruhan Stadium and the rest were hospitalized. 180 people were injured, Afinta said. Among the dead were two police officers.
According to him, many people were crushed in the crowd and suffocated when they ran to an exit.
“They went out to a point at the exit, then there was a build-up – in the build-up there was shortness of breath, a lack of oxygen,” Afinta said.
A police spokesman later announced that 129 people had died in one of the world’s deadliest sports stadium disasters. The director of the hospital told local television that one victim was five years old.
Indonesia’s Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD said the number of spectators exceeded the capacity of Kanjuruhan Stadium.
More tickets sold than the stadium can hold
In a message on Instagram, he announced that 42,000 tickets have been issued for the stadium that can accommodate 38,000 people.
The head of the Malang Regency Health Office, Wijanto Vijoyo, said earlier that officials are still comparing the number of injured.
The victims “died from the chaos, overcrowding, trampling and suffocation,” Vijanto said, adding that the injured were sent to various local hospitals.
The fights reportedly started when thousands of Arema fans rushed the field. Several Arema players were also attacked.
Local reports said up to 3,000 spectators took to the pitch after the match, out of a crowd of 40,000. Police said 13 vehicles were damaged, including 10 police cars.
The Indonesian government apologized for the disaster and promised to investigate all the circumstances of the accident.
“We are sorry for this incident… this is a regrettable incident that ‘hurts’ our football at a time when fans can watch football matches from the stadium. We will thoroughly assess the organization of the match and the attendance of fans. Will we go back to banning fans from attend the matches? That is what we will discuss,” Indonesian Minister of Sports and Youth Zainudin Amali told Kompas television.
Fan violence is a perennial problem in Indonesia, where rivalries have turned into deadly clashes before.
Amid the long-standing rivalry between Persebaya Surabaya and Arema FC, Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the match due to fear of violence.
At Hisleborough in 1989, 97 fans died
At the British Hillsborough Stadium in 1989, 97 Liverpool fans died, and at the Port Said Stadium in Egypt in 2012, 74 people died in fan clashes.
In 1964, 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during an Olympic qualifier stampede between Peru and Argentina at the national stadium in Lima.
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