Indonesian football fan beaten to death: According to police, at least 174 people were killed, most of them were crushed to death, when irate supporters invaded a football pitch following a match in Malang, East Java, Indonesia.
Persebaya Surabaya defeated Arema Malang 3-2 in an Indonesian Liga 1 football match at Kanjuruhan Stadium on Saturday evening, with fans flooding the field after the final whistle.
“In the incident, 127 people died, two of whom are police officers,” East Java police chief Nico Afinta said in a statement on Sunday.
“Thirty-four people died inside the stadium and the rest died in hospital.”
Indonesian authorities said later on Sunday the death toll has climbed to at least 174 fatalities, with a further 180 injured, making the stampede one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.
At least two of the dead are reported to be police officers.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo has ordered a pause on all the country’s top league matches as authorities investigate Sunday’s tragedy.
Crowds trampled in the chaos
According to Afinta, police fired tear gas into the venue after brawls erupted among supporters in the stands, prompting hundreds of patrons to desperately scramble towards exit gates.
Several people suffocated and fainted in the chaos, while others were trampled.
In footage from the incident that circulated social media on Sunday, police were seen kicking and beating people with batons as they attempted to run from the field.
Arema footballers were attacked in the chaos, according to local reports, while at least 300 people were rushed to nearby hospitals.
“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” East Java police chief Nico Afinta said, according to the BBC.
“We would like to convey that … not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3000 who entered the pitch.”
Other amateur videos posted to Twitter showed motionless bodies lined up in the stadium and overturned vehicles on the street.
Wiyanto Wijoyo, the head of the Malang Regency health office, confirmed earlier on Sunday that at least 120 people died from “chaos, overcrowding, trampling and suffocation”.
The death toll rose later on Sunday, to at least 174.
Indonesian football fan beaten to death
SOURCE: Ghnewslive.com
