At least 174 people killed after stampede at football match

At least 174 people have died while about 180 injured in a stampede at an Indonesian top-flight football match.

The incident occurred after Arema FC lost to bitter rivals Persebaya Surabaya at the overcrowded stadium on Saturday in Malang, East Java.

According to local reports, thousands of Arema fans went on to the pitch after their team lost 3-2.

The crowd attacked their team’s players who were still on the field at the time of pitch invasion.

In an attempt to to restore order, the police fired tear gas towards the fans, but this triggered a stampede as the panicked crowd rushed to an exit gate.

Some suffocated in the chaos while others were trampled to death. Thirty-four people, including two police officers, died at the stadium and the rest while in hospital.

One victim was reportedly aged five.

Indonesia’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said the number of spectators exceeded the capacity of the Kanjuruhan stadium.

He said in an Instagram post on Sunday that 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium that had a capacity to hold 38,000 people.

The country’s president, Joko Widodo, has ordered that all matches in Indonesia’s top league must be stopped until an investigation has been carried out.

The tragedy, meanwhile, is one of the world’s deadliest sporting stadium disasters.

Warning: The video contains sensitive scenes.

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