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The use of tear gas triggered mass panic, police said
Photo: STR/AFP
According to the authorities, at least 129 people died in serious riots after a soccer game in Malang in the Indonesian province of East Java.
In addition, 180 people were injured.
Angry fans stormed a soccer field at the game, police said, after their Arema FC side lost the game 3-2 to arch-rivals Persebaya Surabaya, their first loss in more than two decades.
The police then tried to persuade the fans to return to the stands.
She fired tear gas into the crowd after two police officers were killed.
According to the police, this triggered a mass panic.
At one exit there was a traffic jam and "shortness of breath and lack of oxygen," said police chief Afinta.
Many of the victims were therefore trampled to death.
34 people died on the field of Kanjuruhan Stadium, all others in hospitals, Afinta said, according to radio station Elshinta and station tvOne.
Footage from inside the stadium showed people climbing over fences and others carrying injured people.
Flared vehicles, including a police vehicle, lined the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning.
The Kanjuruhan Stadium holds a total of 42,000 spectators and was sold out according to the authorities.
No home games for the rest of the season
The Arema and Persebaya football clubs expressed their condolences to the victims and their families.
The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) suspended play in the first division for a week.
Arema were banned from playing home games for the remainder of the season.
The Indonesian government also apologized for the incident.
She promised to investigate the circumstances of the stampede.
"We regret this incident," said the Indonesian Minister of Sport and Youth, Zainudin Amali, on the television station Kompas.
He announced a thorough review of the game organization.
The accident at the British Hillsborough Stadium in 1989 is considered one of the most devastating worldwide, when 97 Liverpool FC fans died when the stands collapsed.
In 2012, 74 people died in a stadium riot in Port Said, Egypt, after a football match.
In 1964, a stampede during an Olympic qualifying match between Peru and Argentina at the National Stadium in Lima killed 320 and injured more than 1,000.
wbr/dpa/AFP