MALANG, Indonesia - Mr Sam Gilang rushed to the exit of the Indonesian football stadium with thousands of other terrified spectators as police fired tear gas and hit fans with batons, creating a stampede that police said claimed 125 lives.
"People were pushing each other and... many were trampled on their way to the exit gate," the 22-year-old survivor of Saturday's deadly tragedy told AFP.
Spectators - including women and children - pushed and stepped on one another, scrambling through the packed terrace and gasping for air, to reach any exit at Kanjuruhan stadium in the city of Malang, East Java.
Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, police said, in what is one of the worst disasters in sporting history.
Mr Gilang lost three friends in the crush.
"It was so terrifying, so shocking," he said.
A domino effect of tragic events unfolded after the final whistle in a 3-2 win for visiting team Persebaya Surabaya - the bitter rivals of Malang's Arema FC.
Several thousand fans descended onto the pitch - some angry, some who wanted to join the crowd to shake the hands of players for home team Arema FC after the loss to their fierce rivals.
As horns blared and obscenities were shouted at the police from the crowd, they watched as their fellow fans ran across the grass.
But the police tried to force spectators back to the confined stands, pushing them with their batons and riot shields.
They then unleashed a hail of tear gas on the terraces in front of the stadium's exit gates 12 and 13.
Police said there was a "riot", but some witnesses rebuffed that description of events.
"There was no riot. I don't know what the issue was, they suddenly fired tear gas," 43-year-old spectator Doni, who declined to give his last name, told AFP.
"That's what shocked me, didn't they think about kids, women?"
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnN0cmFpdHN0aW1lcy5jb20vYXNpYS9zZS1hc2lhL2NoYW9zLWJlZm9yZS1zdGFtcGVkZS1kZWxpdmVyZWQtZGlzYXN0ZXItdG8taW5kb25lc2lhLWZvb3RiYWxsLWZhbnPSAQA?oc=5
2022-10-02 11:54:31Z
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