Tragedy hits SEA Games leaving two dead

By Jeanette Tan (Jakarta) and Satish Cheney (Singapore)

Tragedy has struck the SEA Games in Indonesia, with two fans dead following a stampede at the football final.The stampede is believed to have occurred as thousands of fans flooded into Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium about half an hour before the 7:30pm (Indonesia time) match between bitter rivals Indonesia and Malaysia, according to reports.Spectators who could not enter the 80,000-seat stadium set fire to two ticket booths and the police had to fire warning shots to break up the rowdy crowd, reported AFP.

One of the two fatalities has been identified by Indonesian media as 20-year-old Reno, a drummer for a popular artiste in Indonesia. The second victim is a Kusmanto from the Cililitan district in eastern Jakarta.
Another 10 people have been hospitalised, according to local news agency Tempo.
It took almost two hours for the bodies to be evacuated from the stadium, with the roads nearby jam-packed with thousands of vehicles.More than 100,000 people crammed the stadium to watch the match, which saw Indonesia defeated, while thousands of others surrounded it watching it on screens outside.

At the final, Indonesia and Malaysia were held at a 1-all stalemate, broken after 30 minutes of extra time by a penalty shootout, which Malaysia won 4-3. There were already security concerns over the weekend regarding Monday's football final. Fans burnt down a ticket booth on Sunday and stood outside Jakarta's pyramid building, where its media press centre was located, in the hopes of securing themselves tickets. Calls for calm by the organisers before the match were also made on local radio and television on Monday.

Earlier on Sunday, Malaysia's Deputy Sports Minister Razali Ibrahim blamed opposition leaders for the bad reception Malaysian athletes were getting from Indonesian sports fans, according to political website Malaysiakini.

"Why is it that they reserve such hatred for us? Why not Thailand? Why not others? It is not because of the perceived maltreatment of Indonesians locally.In my opinion, it is because opposition leaders have been making a bee line for Indonesia to bad mouth our country," said the minister.

Indonesian police officers evacuate an unconscious woman from the crowd after a stampede inside the stadium. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesian police helping a boy stuck in the stampede. ( AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

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