— (Reuters) According to Indonesia’s police commissioner, six individuals, including officers and event organisers, are being investigated for their roles in a stampede that occurred at a soccer match over the weekend and resulted in at least 131 fatalities.
The stampede that occurred on Saturday in the East Javan city of Malang was one of the biggest sporting disasters in history. Hundreds of soccer supporters were attempting to flee a stadium disturbance when police opened fire with tear gas, which caused a crush that was made worse by multiple shut exits.
At a press conference, Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo stated that organisers and police were among those under investigation and that additional individuals may face charges.
If found guilty, they would be punished with a maximum five-year prison sentence for criminal negligence causing death.
The president of the organising committee, the chief security officer of the host team Arema FC, and three police officers who used tear gas are among the suspects.
The club’s officials, according to the police, disregarded safety regulations and permitted a greater throng than the stadium could hold while stewards abandoned exits.
Police have claimed that the exits through which fleeing individuals fled were too narrow to be used, and the nation’s soccer association has claimed that some doors were shut.
In an effort to identify those responsible for the catastrophic stampede, one of the bloodiest soccer-related incidents since a crush in Peru in 1964 that claimed more than 300 lives, the authorities formed a fact-finding committee.
The probe comes after President Joko Widodo ordered a security evaluation of all the stadiums in the nation, saying that “closed doors and steep staircases” were significant contributing factors in the event.
(This story has been resubmitted with the unnecessary words in paragraphs 2, 7, and minor adjustments in paragraphs 8, 9 removed.)
According to Indonesian authorities, six persons are being prosecuted over a soccer stampede.
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