At least 129 people died in a riot at a football stadium in Indonesia.
The tragedy was one of the deadliest things to happen at a sports stadium in the world.
Authorities said Sunday that at least 129 people died in a riot at an Indonesian football stadium. Thousands of angry home fans rushed the field, and the police used tear gas, which caused a stampede.
The Saturday night tragedy in the eastern city of Malang, which also left 180 people hurt, was one of the worst stadium disasters in the world.
Police called the unrest "riots" and said they used tear gas to try to get fans back into the stands after two officers were killed.
Surviving people said that people in the crowd panicked as tear gas fell on them.
"There was no riot, and nothing was going on. I don't know what was going on, but all of a sudden they shot tear gas. What surprised me was that they didn't think about women and children."
Widodo said, "I'm very sorry about this tragedy, and I hope this is the last football-related tragedy in our country."
During the stampede, pictures taken from inside the stadium showed police shooting a lot of tear gas and people climbing over fences.
People were yelling obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and swinging batons, in a video that was shared on social media.
The stadium has room for 42,000 people, and the event was said to be sold out. The police said that 3,000 people rushed onto the field.
- Putting up with violence -
Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.
Mahfud MD, Indonesia's coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs, said that the match organizers didn't listen to advice from the government to hold it in the afternoon instead of the evening.
"The government has made improvements to how football games are run... and will keep making improvements. But fans of this sport, which is popular with a wide range of people, often show their feelings quickly "In an Instagram post, he said.
It also said that Arema FC couldn't play games at home for the rest of the season.
The head of the Asian Football Confederation, which is in charge of football in the area, said he was sorry that people died in the accident.
In May, six stadiums all over Indonesia will host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup. That list does not have the Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang on it.
In 1964, there was a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier at Lima's National Stadium. More than 1,000 people were hurt, and 320 people died.