gaosudin.com – SEOUL, October 30 (Reuters) – At least 149 people were crushed to death as large crowds of at least 149 people, mostly young men in their teens and 20s, celebrating Halloween poured into the capital’s nightlife alleys. Korea, Seoul. Saturday night, emergency officials said.
Yongsan Fire Chief Choi Song-beom held a press conference on the spot and said, “Another 65 people were injured in Itaewon, Seoul.” Officials said 19 of the injured were in critical condition and undergoing emergency treatment, adding that the death toll was likely to rise.
It was the first Halloween event in Seoul, three years after the country lifted its Covid restrictions and social distancing. Many revelers wore Halloween masks and costumes.
Some eyewitnesses said that as the evening progressed, the crowd became increasingly restless and agitated. This incident occurred around 10:20 pm. (1320 GMT).
“A number of people fell during Halloween and we have a large number of casualties,” Choi said. Many of the dead were near a nightclub.
Choi said many of the victims were women in their twenties. Witnesses described chaotic scenes in the moments before the stampede, with on-site police sometimes struggling to control the crowd before the Halloween event.
Moon Joo-yong, 21, said there were clear signs of unrest on the streets prior to the accident. “It was at least ten times busier than usual,” he says.
Social media showed hundreds of people being crushed and immobilized in a narrow, steep alleyway as rescuers and police tried to free them. Yongsan District Fire Chief Choi said the victims were likely all crushed in a narrow alleyway.
Other images show a chaotic scene as firefighters and civilians treat dozens of people who appear unconscious. Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the narrow alley, which was already overcrowded from wall to wall, as those at the top of the sloping street fell and those below them others.
An unnamed woman, who said she was the mother of a survivor, said her daughter and others were trapped for more than an hour before being pulled from the crowd of people in the alley. A Reuters eyewitness said a makeshift morgue had been set up in a building next to the crime scene.
Witnesses said about 40 bodies were later transported on stretchers and taken to a government facility to identify the victims. Itaewon district is popular with South Korean youth and expats, with dozens of bars and restaurants packed to capacity on Saturday’s Halloween after business plummeted during the three-year pandemic. .
“During Christmas and fireworks it’s crowded with people… “But she was dozens of times bigger than anything,” Park Jeong-hun, 21, told Reuters immediately.
Among the dead were two foreigners and the rest were taken to a nearby hospital. President Joe Biden and his wife expressed their mourning and wrote: Keep reading
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted:
In April to solve the KOVID epidemic, the limitations of 10 people for the initial block of Bar and Restaurant and 10 people were eliminated. The mask was held in May. Authorities said they are investigating the exact cause of the accident.
The disaster was the deadliest since the 2014 ferry sank in 2014, killing 304 people, mostly schoolchildren. Criticism of the sinking of the Sewol ferry and its official response sent shockwaves across South Korea and sparked an extensive internal investigation into national security measures that could be renewed in the aftermath of Saturday’s events.
President Yun Seok-yeol presided over an emergency meeting with high-level aides, and ordered the formation of a task force to secure resources to treat the wounded and to launch a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the disaster.
