An Indonesian police chief and nine elite police officers were dismissed on Monday and 18 others are under investigation for a stampede that killed at least 125 people after firing tear gas inside a football stadium, officials said .
Grieving family members are struggling to make sense of the loss of a loved one, including 17 children, at the game in Malang, East Java, which is only available to fans of their hometown Arema Football Club. Organisers banned supporters of visiting team Persebaya Surabaya due to Indonesia’s history of violent football matches.
Saturday night’s disaster was one of the deadliest at sporting events.
Arema players and officials laid wreaths in front of the stadium on Monday.
“We are here as a team asking for forgiveness from families affected by this tragedy, those who have lost a loved one or who are still being treated in hospital,” said head coach Javier Rocca.
About a thousand football fans in black shirts held a candlelight vigil at a football stadium in the Jakarta satellite city of Bekasi on Monday night to pray for the victims of the disaster.
Witnesses said some of the 42,000 Arema fans ran angrily onto the pitch after the team’s 3-2 defeat at home to Persebaya for the first time in 23 years. Some threw bottles and other objects at players and football officials. At least five police cars were pulled over and set on fire outside the stadium.
But most of the deaths occurred as riot police tried to stop the violence, including firing tear gas in the stands, sparking a catastrophic stampede that saw fans panicked and ran for the exits. Most of the 125 who died were trampled or suffocated. The victims included two police officers.
The Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection said at least 17 children were among the dead, seven of whom were being treated in hospital. Police said 323 people were injured in the crush, some of them still in critical condition.
National police spokesman Dedy Prasetyo said Malang police chief Ferli Hidayat and nine members of an elite police mobile brigade had been dismissed. They could be fired in police ethics trials.
He said 18 mid- to high-ranking officials responsible for firing the tear gas were being investigated.
He said police were questioning witnesses and analyzing video from 32 security cameras in and around the stadium and nine cellphones owned by the victims as part of an investigation that would also identify the suspected vandals.
The parents and other relatives of Faiqotul Hikmah, 22, cried as an ambulance arrived at their home on Monday, her body wrapped in white cloth and black blankets. She died while fleeing to Exit 12 of the Kanjuruhan Stadium.
Her friend Abdul Mukid said Monday that her friend Abdul Mukid ( Abdul Mukid, her friend Abdul Mukid, said on Monday that more than a dozen friends went to see the game with her because tickets were sold out, but Shekma was the only one One of the four who were able to enter the stadium. He later bought a ticket from his agent to find Hickman after hearing about the chaos in the stadium.
“I had to find her and save her,” Mujid recalled.
Mukid found Hikmah’s body lying in a building inside the stadium, with broken ribs and bruised bruises on her face. He learned that a second friend had also died. Other friends had called him as he took Shikma’s body to the hospital in an ambulance.
“I can’t express the grief of losing my sister in words,” said Hikmah’s brother Nur Laila. “She was just a big Arema fan who wanted to watch her favorite team play. She shouldn’t have died for it,” she said. Wipe away tears.
President Joko Widodo has ordered the suspension of Premier League football until safety is reassessed and security strengthened. The Indonesian Football Federation also banned Arema from hosting football matches for the rest of the season.
Arema Football Club President Geelong Vidya Pramana expressed his grief and deepest apologies to the victims and the Indonesian people, and said he was ready to take full responsibility for the tragedy that occurred at the team’s stadium.
He said management, coaches and players were shocked and speechless.
“I am ready to provide assistance, even if it fails to restore the victim’s life,” Pramana said at a news conference Monday at the Arema Malang headquarters.
“This event went beyond prediction, beyond reason… In a game where only our fans watched, there was not a single opponent’s supporter,” he sobbed. “How could the matchstick kill more than 100 people?”
He said Arema Football Club is ready to accept any sanctions from the Indonesian Football Association and the government, “hoping that this will be a very valuable lesson”.
Security Minister Mohammad Mahfoud said he would lead an investigation into violations in the disaster and make recommendations to the president to improve football safety. The investigation will be completed within three weeks.
Mahfud instructed the national police and military chiefs to punish those who committed the crimes and acts that led to the stampede.
“The government urges the national police to assess their security procedures,” Mahford told a news conference.
Human rights group Amnesty International has urged Indonesia to investigate the use of tear gas and ensure those found responsible are tried in open court. While FIFA cannot control domestic competitions, it advises against the use of tear gas in football stadiums.
Despite Indonesia’s lack of international visibility in the sport, hooliganism is rife in the football-obsessed country, and the frenzy often ends in violence. Figures from Indonesia’s football regulator Save Our Soccer show that over the past 28 years, 78 people have died in match-related incidents.
Saturday’s game was one of the worst sports crowd disasters in the world, including the 1996 World Cup qualifier between Guatemala and Costa Rica in Guatemala City, in which more than 80 people died and more than 100 were injured. In April 2001, more than 40 people were crushed to death during a football match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa. In February 2012, during a match between rivals al-Masry and al-Ahly, thousands of al-Masry fans stormed the stadium and attacked visiting supporters, killing 74 and injuring more than 500.Egypt’s league is suspended for two years