President Yoon Suk Yeol has announced national mourning after the tragic crowd crush in Itaewon.
President Yoon sent his condolences to the families of the victims, mainly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured. “It’s too tragic. A tragedy, a disaster that shouldn’t have happened occurred in Seoul last night,” South Korea’s president said.
Panorama of the Halloween tragedy in Korea
As of the morning of October 30, 151 people had been killed, including 19 foreigners (including Chinese, Iranian, Uzbekistani and Norwegian). In addition, 82 people were injured, 19 are serious cases. This information was announced by Choi Seong Beom, commander of Yongsan Fire Department in the latest press conference.
This is the first Halloween festival held in Seoul after 3 years of break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. An estimated 100,000 people flocked here on the night of October 29 to party and have fun. The tragedy struck when the crowd entered a small alley near the Hamilton hotel at about 10:20 PM (local time).
Photos and videos on social media showed hundreds of people huddled together in the narrow and steep alley. They couldn’t even move and breathe properly. People kept pouring in and when those at the front were falling down. Those behind fell along, piling on top of each other.
A woman said her daughter was stuck in the alley for more than an hour before being pulled out.
According to Choi, all the victims who died appeared to be in that deadly alley.
Testimonials of witnesses
“People were pushing each other down that alley, they were screaming and they were falling like dominoes. I thought I’d been crushed to death because everyone kept swarming each other without even realizing that some people had fallen to the ground,” one person who escaped death recounted on Twitter.
Park, in her 20s, said the stampede happened when people crowded into an alley in too short a time. “Short people like me couldn’t breathe. I survived because I stood on the edge of the alley. It seems that the people in the middle were most heavily pressed,” she told Yonhap news.
Other survivors blamed the owners of nearby bars and clubs. According to them, these owners prevented the victims in the alley from entering the shops. “That’s why there are so many casualties. Many people tried to escape by entering nearby shops but were pushed back into the street,” – a survivor said.
Source: K14
