JAKARTA: At least 125 people have died in a crush at an Indonesian football match that has become one of the world’s worst stadium disasters.

Hundreds were also hurt in aftermath of home team Arema FC’s loss to bitter rivals at the overcrowded stadium late on Saturday in Malang, East Java.

The crush took place after police tear-gassed fans who invaded the pitch. As panic spread, thousands surged towards Kanjuruhan stadium’s exits, where many suffocated.

One witness said that police had fired numerous tear gas rounds “continuously and fast” after the situation with fans became “tense”.

Gianni Infantino, president of world federation FIFA said: “This has been a dark day for all involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension.”

Indonesian officials at one stage put the death toll in the disaster as high at 174 people, but this was later revised downwards.

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

Videos from the stadium show fans running on to the pitch after the final whistle marked the home team’s 2-3 defeat, and police firing tear gas in response.

Nico Afinta, police chief in East Java, reported two of his officers among the dead.

He said : “It had become anarchic. They started attacking officers, they damaged cars. But we would also like to convey that not all of them were anarchic. Only about 3,000 who entered the pitch.”

He added that fleeing fans “went out to one point at the exit – then there was a build-up, in the process of accumulation there was shortness of breath, lack of oxygen.”

Videos on social media show fans clambering over fences to escape. Separate videos appear to show lifeless bodies on the floor.

The Indonesian football association (PSSI) said it had launched an investigation, adding that the incident had “tarnished the face of Indonesian football”.

Violence at football matches is not new in Indonesia and Persebaya fans had been banned from buying tickets for the game because of fears of clashes.

Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD posted on Instagram that 42,000 tickets had been sold for the match at Kanjuruhan stadium, which has a stated capacity of 38,000.

Muhamad Dipo Maulana, 21, who was at the match, told local media that after the game had ended a few Arema fans went on the pitch to remonstrate with the home team players but were immediately intercepted by police and “beaten”.

He said he had heard more than 20 tear gas shots towards spectators at the stadium, adding: “There was a lot, like bang, bang, bang! The sound was continuous and fast. The sound was really loud and directed to all the stands.”

The stampede is one of the worst of a tragically long line of stadium disasters.

In 1964, a total of 320 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured during a stampede at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier in Lima.

97 Liverpool fans attending the club’s FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest.

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