Video: 125 dead after riot at Indonesia football match

The death toll from a stampede at a soccer stadium in Indonesia’s East Java province has been revised down to 125, a government official said on Sunday.

The incident took place when thousands of angry home fans invaded the pitch and police responded with tear gas that triggered a stampede, authorities said Sunday.

The tragedy on Saturday night in the city of Malang, which also left 180 injured, was one of the world's deadliest sporting stadium disasters.

Arema FC supporters at the Kanjuruhan stadium stormed the pitch after their team lost 3-2 to the visiting team and bitter rivals, Persebaya Surabaya.

Police, who described the unrest as "riots", said they tried to force fans to return to the stands and fired tear gas after two officers were killed.

Many of the victims were trampled or choked to death, according to police.

East Java Deputy governor Emil Dardak said the data cross- checked from 10 hospitals in the area showed there were 125 fatalities. Earlier officials had put the figure as high as 174.

Survivors described panicking spectators in a packed crowd as tear gas rained down on them.

"Officers fired tear gas, and automatically people were rushing to come out, pushing each other and it caused many victims," 43-year-old spectator Doni, who declined to give his last name, told AFP.

"Nothing was happening, there was no riot. I don't know what the issue was, they suddenly fired tear gas. That's what shocked me, didn't they think about kids, women?"

President Joko Widodo ordered an investigation into the tragedy, a safety review into all football matches and directed the country's football association to suspend all matches until "security improvements" were completed.

"I deeply regret this tragedy and I hope this football tragedy will be the last in our country," Widodo said.

A hospital director told local TV that one of the victims was five years old.

Images taken from inside the stadium during the stampede showed police firing huge amounts of tear gas and people clambering over fences.

People were carrying injured spectators through the chaos.

"It was so terrifying, so shocking," 22-year-old survivor Sam Gilang, who lost three friends in the crush, told AFP.

"People were pushing each other and... many were trampled on their way to the exit gate. My eyes were burning because of the tear gas. I fortunately managed to climb up the fence and survived," he said.

A video from Reuters shows the tear gas being released onto the pitch.

Video footage circulating on social media showed people shouting obscenities at police, who were holding riot shields and wielding batons.

Torched vehicles, including a police truck, littered the streets outside the stadium on Sunday morning. Police said 13 vehicles in total were damaged.

The stadium holds 42,000 people and authorities said it was a sell-out. Police said 3,000 people stormed the pitch.

Fan violence is an enduring problem in Indonesia, where deep rivalries have previously turned into deadly confrontations.

Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya are longtime rivals.

Persebaya Surabaya fans were not allowed to buy tickets for the game due to fears of violence.