South Korea’s president has promised a full investigation after at least 153 people were crushed to death during Halloween celebrations that plunged the country into mourning as crowds flooded the narrow alleys of crowded Seoul’s nightlife.
Yoon Suk-yeol has labeled Seoul’s popular Itaewon district a disaster area after the most deadly crowd in South Korean history, calling it a “tragedy…that shouldn’t have happened.” explained.
An estimated 100,000 people flocked to Itaewon on Saturday to roam freely in the capital as the end of social distancing, mask requirements, and other anti-Covid rules allowed for the first Halloween party in three years. It has long become a symbol of nightlife.
The revelers hit a deadly crash around 10:20 p.m. when a large crowd, many in Halloween costumes, scrambled down a steep, narrow alleyway off the Boulevard of Poard Street. Previously, crowds of people reported chaotic scenes in the streets near the Hamilton Hotel.
“This news came like a bolt from the blue sky,” one father said who burst into tears as he identified his daughter’s body.
At least 90% of the victims had been identified, the interior ministry said, with delays mostly affecting foreign nationals.
Kim Mi Sung, who works for a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism in Itaewon said, “I still can’t believe what has happened. It was like hell.”
She said she performed CPR on 10 unconscious people, nine of whom were later confirmed dead.
Yongsan Fire Station Chief Choi Sung Bum told reporters at the scene that 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously. The dead included 22 foreigners, he said. Rescue workers warned that the death toll could continue to rise.
President Yoon declared a state of official national mourning in a live address to the nation.
He said, “As president, who is responsible for the people’s lives and safety, my heart is heavy and I struggle to cope with my grief.”
The president promised, “The authorities will thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and make drastic improvements to prevent the same kind of accident from happening in the future.”
Witnesses reported seeing crowds swarming in different directions, causing people to lose their legs on the slopes, and causing a domino effect. It was showing how he was trying to pull himself out of the crowd.
“People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling like dominos. I thought I would be crushed to death, too, as people kept pushing without realizing people were falling at the start of the stampede,” a user posted on Twitter.
“So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath. There was blood coming from their noses. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths,” Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims, told local TV he had witnessed scenes of tragedy and chaos.
Most of the victims were in their teens and twenties, 97 were female, and 54 were male. At least 20 foreign nationals were among the dead, according to the State Department, including citizens of the United States, Uzbekistan, Austria, Norway, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Sri Lanka. A French national, three Russians, and four Chinese were also killed, according to the government.
The disaster is the deadliest in South Korea since the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, killing 304 people, mostly school children. Saturday’s death is likely to prompt public scrutiny of what government officials have been doing to improve public safety standards since the ferry accident.
This was the worst devastating disaster in Korean history. In 2005, it killed 11 people and injured about 60 at a pop concert in the southern city of Sangju.
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