East Java: At least 174 people died and more than have been severely injured after riots broke out in a football match of Indonesia top league BRI Liga 1 at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java on Saturday night. The violence turned into stampede leaving dozens injured. Two police officers and children also lost their lives, reported news agency AFP. The soccer match took place inside the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, a landlocked city in the Indonesian province of East Java.Also Read – Man Finds Rafflesia, The Largest Flower in The World, While Walking Through Forest in Indonesia | Watch
#WATCH | At least 127 people died after violence at a football match in Indonesia, last night. The deaths occurred when angry fans invaded a football pitch after a match in East Java
(Video source: Reuters) pic.twitter.com/j7Bet6f9mE
— ANI (@ANI) October 2, 2022
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According to report by AFP, the deaths occurred when angry fans invaded a football pitch after a match in East Java late Saturday, police said. Two of the dead were police. “Thirty-four people died inside the stadium and the rest died in hospital,” East Java police chief Nico Afinta said Sunday. Also Read – USA Reports First Monkeypox Death From Texas
Police officers fire tear gas during a soccer match at Kanjuruhan Stadium (AP Photo)
Hundreds of people ran to an exit gate in an effort to avoid the tear gas. Some suffocated in the chapos and others were trampled, killing 34 almost instantly. More than 300 were rushed to nearby hospitals to treat injuries but many died on the way and during a treatment, Afinta said.
He further added that the death toll is likely still increasing, since many of about 180 injured victims’ conditions were deteriorating.
A pair of sneakers sit trampled in the stands of Kanjuruhan Stadium following a deadly soccer match stampede (AP Photo)
The defeat of Arema Football club by their arch-rivals Persebaya on their home ground prompted a large number of their supporters to storm the pitch following which mass riots broke out, killing more than 100 football fans.
Numerous footage that circulated on social media showed fans climbing over fences as they tried to escape from the smoke clouds after tear gas was released at the incident site in order to disperse the masses. Notably, after the chaos ended on the soccer ground, the stampede continued on the streets, the Daily Star reported.