Indonesia stadium stampede leaves 125 dead

 

At least 125 people died and 323 injured at an Indonesian football stadium when thousands of angry home fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday.

 Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium marched onto the pitch after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya.

Officers fired tear gas in an attempt to disperse agitated supporters of the losing home side who had invaded the pitch after the final whistle in Malang, East Java, on Saturday night, the region’s police chief Nico Afinta told reporters.Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police. Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them.

President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation into the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the country's football association to suspend all matches until "security improvements" were completed.

A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old.

Images taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed police firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering over fences.

Amnesty International called for an investigation into why tear gas was deployed in a confined space, saying it should only be used "when other methods have failed".

"It was so terrifying, so shocking," 22-year-old survivor Sam Gilang, who lost three friends in the crush, told AFP.

"People were pushing each other and... many were trampled on their way to the exit gate. My eyes were burning because of the tear gas. I fortunately managed to climb up the fence and survived," he said.