8 Deadly Events in Football Stadiums That Triggered Panic Due to Tear Gas

Illustration (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - There have been at least eight deadly incidents inside soccer stadiums that were preceded by panic over the use of tear gas to quell violent supporters. This list does not include the Kanjuruhan tragedy on Saturday night which killed more than 100 people.

The eight incidents were Peru in 1964 which killed 318 people, Tripoli in 1968 which killed 30 people, Haiti in 1976 which killed six people, Brazil in 1985 which killed three people, and Zimbabwe in 2000 which killed 13 people.

Then three other tragedies in South Africa, Congo, and Ghana all occurred in 2001 with the worst in Ghana with 126 people killed.

Quoting Antara, Monday, in the case of Ghana, when the two strongest teams Accra Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko faced off, the security forces had actually anticipated the potential for chaos by tightening security.

However, once the match was won by Accra 2-1, Kotoko supporters were angry by throwing stadium chairs and plastic bottles onto the pitch.

Police brought the situation under control by firing tear gas at onlookers.

But what happened later, was panicked supporters spontaneously ran to avoid exposure to tear gas and tried to get out of the stadium.

The stadium's design, which had few exits, later became what the Ghana Institute of Architects called a "death trap" after thousands of people piled up in front of the stadium's exits like a bottleneck effect.

A total of 126 people died due to asphyxia, which is a condition when oxygen levels in the body decrease with one of the causes being exposure to smoke or chemicals.

The high death toll was also due to the absence of medical personnel who took care of the victims directly because apparently, they left the stadium as soon as the riots occurred.

Immediately following this incident Ghana's President John Agyekum Kufuor declared a three-day day of national mourning, while the country's premier league football was suspended for one month.

Sometime later the investigation concluded that the police overreacted by recklessly firing tear gas indiscriminately.

However, the court only stated that asphyxia was the sole cause of the deaths of the hundreds of supporters, thus excluding the use of tear gas, which clearly made the audience panic and then stepped on each other.

The commission of inquiry itself recommended upgrading the stadium's security system which then pushed for the renovation of the stadium to conform to FIFA standards.

Meanwhile, the tragedy at Kanjuruhan Stadium, Malang Regency took place after the match between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya with a final score of 2-3. The incident is still under investigation by the police and related parties.