17 People Trampled To Death In Indonesia During Boxing Match Riot

SMH

17 People Trampled To Death In Indonesia During Boxing Match Riot

Over a dozen people lost their lives over the weekend when angry fans began rioting and took things too far following a boxing match in eastern Indonesia.

via NBC News

Seventeen people were killed in a stadium stampede after spectators rioted to protest a local boxer’s loss in a championship match in eastern Indonesia, officials said Monday.

Youth and Sports Minister Roy Suryo said the victims – 11 of them women – were trampled to death as about 1,500 spectators scrambled out the overcrowded stadium to escape the riot that broke out just before midnight Sunday.

Thirty-two people are being treated at hospital for injuries.

The riot happened after the final of the 128-pound division between Alvius Rumkorem and Yulianus Pigome, who Suryo said are from different tribes.

Points awarded by a panel of judges to Rumkorem triggered protests by Pigome supporters, Suryo said.

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, said Lt. Col. Gede Sumerta, a provincial police spokesman.

Police and soldiers were deployed to stop the fighting, Sumerta said, adding that police investigating the case have questioned 12 people – five organizers and seven witnesses.

People really have got to get a grip on their emotions following these sporting events. No one should ever lose their life because a professional athlete lost a boxing match. SMH.

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