At least 18 people were killed in a stadium stampede after spectators rioted to protest a local boxer’s loss in a championship match in eastern Indonesia, police said on Monday.
The victims, mostly women, were trampled to death as about 1,500 spectators scrambled out the stadium to escape the riot that broke out just before midnight on Sunday, said Lt. Col. Gede Sumerta Jaya, police spokesman in Papua province.
Kota Lama Sport Stadium in the town of Nabire had only two working exits.
ADVERTISEMENT
Points awarded by a panel of judges decided the championship match for the Bupati Cup, or Regent Cup. The losing boxer’s supporters threw chairs at the judges and the winner’s supporters responded by throwing bottles and broken chairs, panicking people in the stadium, Jaya said.