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Indonesia stadium crush: 'An accident waiting to happen'

Indonesian sports journalists reflect on the stadium disaster, in which 125 people lost their lives.

In one of the world's worst ever sports stadium disasters at least 125 people have been killed, of which 32 children, and more than 320 people injured. The disaster took place after the home team, Arema FC, lost. Thousands of fans came onto the pitch, but were immediately met by police, beaten and tear-gassed

In the panic to escape, people were trampled and crushed at the exits. Videos on social media show fans trying to climb over fences to escape and exits were blocked by the sheer number of people.

Indonesia's police force has previously been criticised for its frequent use of tear gas in tightly-packed stadiums. Fifa's own regulations say no "crowd control gas" should be carried or used by stewards or police at matches and the body has requested a report on the incident from the Indonesian football federation.

Football is one of the biggest sports in Indonesia, and fans are incredibly passionate about their teams, with violence not unprecedented. There had already been concerns in the lead-up to the game, so only a home crowd was allowed. However, the stadium was still at over-capacity attendance of 42,000 people.

Police spokesperson, Dedi Prasetyo, told reporters that officers under investigation were being questioned by an internal affairs team. A police chief has now been sacked and several other officers, including the field security team, and some officials from the Indonesian football league, are also under investigation.

Indonesia's human rights commission said it will conduct its own inquiry into the disaster, and President Joko Widodo has ordered that all matches in Indonesia's top league must be stopped until the official probe has been carried out.

Sports broadcasters Adi Yani and Jerry Arvino are both commentators for Liga 1, the top national league in Indonesia. They give their reaction to the disaster.

Adi has "been to the stadium more than ten times, for me it was an accident waiting to happen...it was a high risk match, and every single component that has to be right in that match went wrong."

(Photo credit: H Prabowo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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Duration:

12 minutes