Three named suspect in stampede

Yuli Tri Suwarni , The Jakarta Post , Bandung | Mon, 02/11/2008 12:02 PM | Headlines

Organizers of a rock concert in Bandung have been named suspects after 10 people attending the event on Saturday night were killed in a stampede as thousands of people struggled to get in and out of the gates of the venue at the same time.

Police reports said dozens were also injured and suffered breathing difficulties during the stampede, most of them teenagers.

Police have named three of the event organizers as suspects in the case and said they could face a maximum of five years jail for negligence leading to death.

The stampede occurred at the small Asia-Africa Cultural Center on Jalan Braga after local band Beside had completed approximately one third of its album-launch performance.

Police said it appeared some of the crowd was attempting to get in to the venue, while others were struggling to exit.

The performance should reportedly only have included 700 paying guests, but organizers allegedly oversold the concert by hundreds of tickets.

However, reports of unpaying guests using a broken gate to enter the performance have also arisen.

Police said they were unable to prevent the stampeding crowd as they jammed through the gates.

Novi Febriani, a 15-year-old resident of Bojongloa Kaler, Bandung, has been named one of the victims trampled to death.

Others killed in the incident have been identified as Dodi Guna Jaya, Rizali, Ageng Panji, Novan, Kristianto, Dicky Zaelani, Ahmad Wahyu, Ahmad Dani Furqon and Muhamad Yusuf.

Muhamad was the eldest victim, at 22 years.

The bodies of those killed have been handed to their families.

One spectator, Fajar Mustofa, 18, said he arrived at the rock concert venue at 8 p.m. together with Novi and Novi's elder sister, Siska.

The three said they found the venue's gate broken, so they were easily able to enter the building without paying for tickets, valued at Rp 10,000 (US$1) each.

"As we saw the building was very, very crowded, we decided to go out," Fajar said.

"At that time, the light went out and the performance was finished."

The Bandung Police on Sunday named three members of the event's organizing committee as suspects.

"They are charged with Article 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code on negligence which leads to the death or injury of other people and they are facing up to five years in jail as a maximum," Bandung Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Suparsono said.

Accompanied by head of the Bandung Police's detective unit Adj. Sr. Comr. Hendro Pandowo, Bambang said the three suspects had been identified as AAS, 25 years old, and YA and HS, both 24.

Based on preliminary investigations, Bambang said the three suspects had sold tickets far beyond the building's capacity.

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