FIFA seeks report on Indonesian soccer stampede

FIFA has sought a report on the Indonesian soccer stampede that left at least 125 people dead on Sunday.

FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, has asked Indonesian football authorities for a report on the incident.

The incident was a “dark day for all involved”, said FIFA, the governing body for world football.

7 children were among at least 125 people killed in a soccer stampede in Indonesia at the weekend, the officials confirmed.

Indonesia’s chief security minister Mahfud MD said on Monday the government would form an independent fact-finding team that would include academics and soccer experts as well as government officials to probe what happened.

The team will investigate for the next few weeks with the aim of finding who was responsible for the tragedy, he added.

Mahfud said on Sunday the stadium had been filled beyond its capacity.

Some 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium designed to hold 38,000 people, he added.

Its safety regulations say firearms or “crowd control gas” should not be used at matches.

According to the local police, the chaos started after the supporters of Arema FC and rival Persebaya Surabaya, two of Indonesia’s biggest soccer teams, clashed in the stands on Saturday night after home team Arema FC was defeated 3-2 at a match in the city of Malang in East Java.

The supporters from the losing team invaded the pitch and police fired tear gas that triggered a stampede that led to cases of suffocation and resulted in casualties.