(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Sunday ordered police
investigation into a sporting stadium stampede that killed at least
129 people and injured about 180 others after a football match,
reports
citing .
'I also ordered the police to fully evaluate the security
procedures for football matches,' the president told a press
conference.
He also instructed the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI)
to temporarily halt all football matches in the Southeast Asian
country until the related investigation is complete.
Two policemen were among those who were killed in the incident.
The tragedy, one of the world's deadliest sporting stadium
disasters, occurred on Saturday night at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in
Malang of Indonesia's East Java province, right after Arema Malang
club lost to Persebaya Surabaya in an Indonesian league football
match.
Local media reported that supporters of the losing home team
climbed over the fence and entered the football pitch, resulting in
clashes with the police and a stampede.
Reports said the riot police fired tear gas at people, which
caused panic among crowds. People rushed to leave the stadium,
leading to a stampede at an exit gate.
'Around 34 people died inside the stadium and the rest died in
hospital,' provincial police chief Nico Afinta told a press
conference.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political,
Legal and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, said on his official social
media account that there were no clashes between supporters of the
rival teams in the match, because supporters of Persebaya, the
winning team, had not been allowed to watch the match at the
stadium.
'Victims mostly died of stampede, suffocation, squeezing and
trampling,' he wrote, adding that 42,000 tickets had been issued
for the stadium that has the capacity to hold only 38,000
people.
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