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Tear gas, locked gates led to Kanjuruhan soccer stampede
"I wanted to leave, but suddenly I heard explosions," he said, describing rounds of tear gas fired as Saturday's night-time match ended and fans invaded the field, angered by the home team's loss.
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Scene of the crime: Tear gas canisters fly over the playing field at Kanjuruhan Stadium after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya in Malang, East Java, on Saturday. (Kompas.com/Imron Hakiki) (Kompas.com/Imron Hakiki)
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t was the closing stages of the match, a soccer derby in Malang, East Java, and 29-year-old spectator Ahmad Nizar Habibi said he had a gut feeling things were about to turn ugly.
"I wanted to leave, but suddenly I heard explosions," he said, describing rounds of tear gas fired as Saturday's night-time match ended and fans invaded the field, angered by the home team's loss.
"We couldn't see. Fans were screaming and we couldn't breathe," said Habibi.
The chaos that erupted in the soccer-mad Southeast Asian country left 125 dead and more than 400 injured, plunging a sleepy town on the main island of Java into shock and mourning.
The local health department put the death toll at 131. The victims were mostly fans of the local Arema FC team in Malang.
Comments from spectators, police and experts who spoke to Reuters, as well as video footage, indicate that the disaster was caused by a confluence of factors – a crowd beyond the capacity of the stadium, angry fans, the firing of tear gas by police and, tragically, the fact that some exits were locked.
Erwin Tobing, head of the disciplinary committee of Indonesia's soccer federation (PSSI), said on Tuesday Arema's security officer and the head of its organising committee would be banned from the sport for life.
