At least 174 dead in Indonesia football stadium stampede
Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.
Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the game due to fears of violence.
Many of the victims were trampled to death, according to police.
However Indonesia’s coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said organisers ignored the recommendation of authorities to hold the match in the afternoon instead of the evening.
And he said the government had recommended only 38,000 tickets be printed, but there was instead a sell-out crowd of 42,000.
Before Widodo’s announcement, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) apologised to victims’ families and suspended football matches of Indonesia’s top league, BRI Liga 1, for one week.
It also banned Arema FC from hosting home games for the rest of the season.
The association had communicated with FIFA about the stampede and hopes to avoid sanctions from the world football governing body, PSSI secretary general Yunus Yussi told a press conference.
On why police used tear gas inside the stadium, he said they “had to take some measures to anticipate” spectators entering the pitch.
The Asian Football Confederation, the governing body for football in the region, expressed its regret at the loss of lives in the disaster.
The tragedy was one of the world’s deadliest sporting stadium disasters.
Indonesia is to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in May at six stadiums across the country. The Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang is not included in that list.
It is also bidding to replace China as host of the 2023 Asian Cup alongside South Korea and Qatar, with a decision due later this month.
Other stadium disasters include a 1989 crush in the stands at Britain’s Hillsborough Stadium, which led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans, and the 2012 Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt where 74 people died in clashes.
In 1964, 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier at Lima’s National Stadium.
Source:Capital News
