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A look back into deadly football stadium tragedies

The stampede at a domestic football match in eastern Indonesia that resulted in the death of at least 125 people on Saturday is the latest in a long line of football stadium tragedies around the world.

Here’s a look a some of those incidents:

PERU

May 24, 1964

The Malang Stadium disaster may be the worst since 1964, when a stampede at Lima’s National stadium at a Peru-Argentina Olympic qualifier killed at least 320 people and injured 1,000. 

About 53,000 people were packed into the stadium on May 24, when riots erupted in response to a referee decision. 

Some spectators charged toward the field, others launched objects at the police, who used tear gas and released dogs upon the crowds. Some people were killed by police bullets. Fans could not escape the stampede and were trampled or asphyxiated.

RUSSIA

October 20, 1982

Mystery still surrounds the total number of people who were trampled to death at the end of a UEFA Cup match between Spartak Moscow and Dutch side Haarlem at the Luzniki Stadium. 

The official toll remains at 66, with 45 of them teenagers, but according to the daily newspaper Sovietski Sport, the numbers were far higher and around 340 were killed.

GHANA

May 9, 2001

126 people died in Accra at the end of a match between Hearts of Oaks and Kumasi, when Kumasi supporters, angered by their team’s defeat, threw projectiles and broke chairs. Police threw tear-gas grenades, triggering a stampede.

ENGLAND

May 11, 1985

56 people were killed when a blaze broke out in wooden stands during a match between Bradford and Lincoln City.

April 15, 1989

A stampede in the stands at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough Stadium led to the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans during an FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest.

GUATEMALA

October 16, 1996

Around 80 spectators lost their lives after being crushed by fans piling into a stand at the Mateo Flores National Stadium for the 1998 World Cup qualifier between Guatemala and Costa Rica.

SCOTLAND

January 2, 1971

66 people were killed in a crush at the Ibrox Stadium during a Rangers-Celtic derby.

It was the stadium’s second disaster, after a stand collapsed in 1902, killing 26 people.

EGYPT

February 1, 2012

Port Said stadium tragedy in Egypt killed 74 people after clashes broke out between supporters of rival local clubs Al-Masry and Cairo-based Al-Ahly.

February 17, 1974

48 people died and 47 were injured in the Zamalek stadium, which was overwhelmed with 80,000 spectators when it had a capacity to handle 40,000.

SOUTH AFRICA

April 11, 2001

43 people died during a stampede at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg during a match between the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs.

January 13, 1991

40 died in a crush at an Orlando Pirates-Kaizer Chiefs match.

BELGIUM

29 May 1985

39 people were killed at Heysel Stadium in Brussels when Juventus fans tried to flee Liverpool fans.

READ MORE: ‘A dark day’: Football stampede leaves more than hundred dead in Indonesia

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