{"id":106652,"date":"2022-10-02T10:23:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/?p=106652"},"modified":"2022-10-02T10:27:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:27:48","slug":"indonesia-at-least-174-dead-in-football-stampede","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timeskuwait.com\/news\/indonesia-at-least-174-dead-in-football-stampede\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia: At least 174 dead in football stampede"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 174 people have died in a stampede at an Indonesian football match, in one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.<\/p>\n

It happened after police tear-gassed supporters who invaded the pitch late on Saturday.<\/p>\n

About 180 were hurt in the crush after local team Arema FC lost 2-3 to bitter rivals Persebaya Surabaya in East Java.<\/p>\n

The country’s chief security minister said spectators exceeded the stadium’s 38,000 capacity by abound 4,000 people.<\/p>\n

President Joko Widodo has ordered that all matches in Indonesia’s top league must be stopped until an investigation has been concluded.<\/p>\n

Videos show fans running on to the pitch after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

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Police then fired tear gas, leading to a crowd stampede and cases of suffocation, said Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java.<\/p>\n

“It had gotten anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars,” he said, adding that two police officers were among the dead.<\/p>\n

“We would like to convey that… not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch,” he said.<\/p>\n

Fleeing fans “went out to one point at the exit. Then there was a build-up, in the process of accumulation there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen”, he added.<\/p>\n

Videos on social media show fans clambering over fences to escape. Separate videos appear to show lifeless bodies on the floor.<\/p>\n

Fifa, the world’s governing football body, states that no “crowd control gas” should be carried or used by stewards or police at matches.<\/p>\n

The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding that the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football”.<\/p>\n