<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">At least 174 people died at an Indonesian football stadium when thousands of angry home fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"At 9:30 am (0230 GMT) the death toll was 158, at 10:30 am the figure rose to 174 deaths. That's the data collected by the East Java disaster mitigation agency," East Java deputy governor Emil Dardak told broadcaster Kompas TV</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The tragedy on Saturday night in the eastern city of Malang, which also left over 180 injured, was one of the world's deadliest sporting stadium disasters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Police, who described the unrest as "riots", said they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Officers fired tear gas, and automatically people were rushing to come out, pushing each other and it caused many victims," 43-year-old spectator Doni, who declined to give his last name, told AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nothing was happening, there was no riot. I don't know what the issue was, they suddenly fired tear gas. That's what shocked me, didn't they think about kids, women?"</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation into the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the country's football association to suspend all matches until "security improvements" were completed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this football tragedy will be the last in our country," Widodo said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Images taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed police firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering over fences.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">People were carrying injured spectators through the chaos.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video footage circulating on social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and wielding batons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Torched vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning. Police said 13 vehicles in total were damaged.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said it was a sell-out. Police said 3,000 people stormed the pitch.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We would like to convey that... not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch," Afinta said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- Enduring violence -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the game due to fears of violence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, Mahfud MD, said organisers ignored the recommendation of authorities to hold the match in the afternoon instead of the evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And he said the government had recommended only 38,000 tickets be printed, but there was instead a sell-out crowd of 42,000.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The government has made improvements to the implementation of football matches... and will continue to improve. But this sport, which is a favourite of the wider community, often provokes supporters to express emotions suddenly," he said in an Instagram post.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Before Widodo's announcement, the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) suspended football matches of Indonesia's top league, BRI Liga 1, for one week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It also banned Arema FC from hosting home games for the rest of the season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We're sorry and apologise to families of the victims and all parties over the incident," PSSI chairman Mochamad Iriawan said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The chief of the Asian Football Confederation, the governing body for football in the region, expressed his regret at the loss of lives in the disaster.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I am deeply shocked and saddened to hear such tragic news coming out of football-loving Indonesia," AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim. Source: AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>