The friendly soccer match between Indonesia and Fiji at Patriot Stadium in Bekasi on Saturday ended on a tragic note after a supporter was killed by a flare, which was illegally smuggled into the stadium.
The victim, 32-year-old Catur Juliantono, was watching the game in the stands with his family when a flare was shot in their direction. According to Catur’s family, the flare would’ve hit his young cousin, 13-year-old Taufik, had Catur not reacted quickly to save him.
“It (the flare) was going to hit Taufik but (Catur) pushed him out of the way and (the flare) hit his head,” said Nurhasan, Catur’s father-in-law, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
This video shows the moment immediately after Catur was hit by the flare (warning: content may be disturbing to some viewers):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfteEsaHmCU
The flare reportedly hit Catur on the left side of his head. He was severely injured and died on the way to a nearby hospital in Bekasi.
Flares are prohibited inside sporting arenas in Indonesia, though it’s still very common to see them being shot off during soccer matches.
The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) said that they heightened security measures for this match to unprecedented levels not seen before in the country, but admitted that they missed the flare being smuggled into the stadium.
The association has had problems with flares before, with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) fining them $60,000 for the presence of a lit flare during a soccer match earlier this year.
The police have yet to identify who shot the flare that killed Catur.
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