Indonesia stadium disaster: only four paramedics were on standby inside grounds

Only four paramedics were on standby inside the football stadium in Indonesia where 131 people were killed in a crowd crush, with a further 12 nearby, the head of the local public health office has said, promising a thorough evaluation of the response.

The match was not considered to be a high-risk event because only fans of Arema, the home side, were present, said Wiyanto Wijoyo, the head of Malang regency public health office. Supporters of the opposing team, Persebaya Surabaya, who won the match, had been banned as a precaution to prevent violence between rival fans.

“We estimated that it should be a safe and harmless match. The incident that took place on October 1 was purely out of our predictions,” he said. The number of ambulances on standby at matches depends upon the requests made by the Liga Indonesia Baru committee, which organizes all football matches in Indonesia, he said.

After the disaster, Indonesia’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, said that 42,000 tickets had been issued for a stadium that holds a maximum of 38,000 people.

Wiyanto said paramedics faced difficulties getting inside the stadium and that the response was also hampered by the chaotic scenes in surrounding streets, which were packed with traffic, slowing down emergency vehicles.

Chaos descended on the stadium after a pitch invasion by fans prompted police to fire teargas, including, witnesses say, into the stands, without warning. The use of teargas inside the stadium, which is counter to Fifa guidance, caused panic as people rushed to leave. Delays in unlocking stadium gates also contributed to the disaster, according to Indonesia’s national football association.

In total, 547 were injured in the incident, which was one of the world’s deadliest sports stadium disasters.

“We were going in with limited personnel, while the casualties outnumbered us. We eventually requested backups and all ambulances in Malang regency were deployed. There were about 50 more ambulances assisting to transport people with severe conditions on the brink of death, as well as bodies to be taken to the nearest hospital,” he said.

The 50 ambulances deployed included privately owned vehicles, efforts by citizens as well as the government.

Agencies