Officials said that a stampede at a Halloween celebration in central Seoul resulted in more than 150 deaths, and the president of South Korea promised a thorough inquiry into one of the nation’s worst-ever tragedies.
As many as 100,000 individuals, largely in their teens and 20s, are thought to have attended a Halloween party in the capital’s well-known Itaewon district on Saturday night, crowding the area’s congested streets and tight alleyways.
In a televised address on Sunday, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning, informing the public that “a tragedy and disaster occurred that should not have happened.”
In order to prevent a repeat of the catastrophe, he promised that the government “would properly study the incident’s cause and make significant adjustments.”
Before he went to the catastrophe site and spoke to emergency personnel, he said, “My heart is heavy and it is impossible to contain my sorrow.”
The mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, who hastily returned to South Korea from a business trip in Europe, announced that his office will erect a memorial altar at Seoul Plaza on Monday morning so that people may pay their respects to the victims.
While touring the catastrophe site, Oh observed, “The majority of the casualties are young individuals like our sons and daughters, which makes it especially sadder.”
Eyewitnesses reported trying to escape the suffocating mob as individuals piled on top of each other while crammed into a small, sloped passageway.
The rush, which happened about 10:00 pm local time, claimed 153 lives, including 20 foreigners, according to Seoul’s interior ministry for AFP (1300 GMT).
It added that 133 persons were hurt and that the majority of the victims were young ladies in their 20s.
Three members of the armed forces, including one soldier, were among the fatalities, according to a defense ministry official in Seoul.
Authorities in Seoul reported receiving 2,642 reports of missing persons.
“Extraordinarily huge”
Eyewitnesses reported scenes of turmoil when a large throng panicked in a small alleyway, but authorities claimed Sunday that they still didn’t know for sure what caused the crash.
Since the start of the pandemic, this was the first festival that was held without Covid-19 limitations, according to local shopkeepers, who told AFP that the attendance was “unprecedentedly huge” this year.
Jeon Ga-eul, 30, told AFP that “so many people were just being shoved around” and that “I got caught in the crush and I couldn’t get out at first too.”
Lee Sang-min, the interior minister, stated during a briefing that the police force had been occupied on the other side of town when concerns about the event’s lack of security started to surface.
He claimed that a sizable throng was anticipated for a protest at Gwanghwamun, where “a big number had been positioned.”
He added that the police had not anticipated the Halloween event to draw such a sizable throng.
First assistance was being requested from bystanders as the quantity of patients swiftly overloaded the paramedics on the spot.
Doctor Lee Beom-suk, who provided first aid to the victims, recounted scenes of misery and mayhem in an interview with local station YTN.
“The faces of so many victims were pallid. I was unable to detect their breathing or pulse, and many of them had bloody noses. I also pumped blood out of their mouths while performing CPR on them.
Numerous dead covered in bed sheets were visible on the pavement in AFP images, and emergency personnel wearing orange vests could be seen moving many more bodies onto stretchers and into ambulances.
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