At least 151 people were murdered in a frenzied stampede in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, as a large crowd thronged a narrow street during Halloween celebrations. The victims were largely women and young people in their twenties.
According to officials, 82 people were injured, 19 of them badly, in the crowd crush on Saturday night in Itaewon’s entertainment zone.
According to witnesses, the incident occurred at 10:00 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT) when a big crowd invaded a narrow lane near the Hamilton Hotel.
“The high number of casualties was the result of many being trampled during the Halloween event,” fire official Choi Seong-beom told reporters at the scene on Sunday morning, adding that the death toll could climb.
According to him, many of the victims were women and young adults in their twenties.
He also claimed that nineteen foreigners were slain. They came from Iran, Uzbekistan, China, and Norway.
Witnesses recounted hectic circumstances seconds before the stampede, with police on standby in preparation of the Halloween celebration struggling to keep people under control. Some were detained for more than an hour before being rescued from the alley’s congestion.
Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were obvious indicators of unrest in the lanes before to the event.
“There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first too,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told the AFP news agency. “I felt like an accident was bound to happen.”
Several persons were given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the streets, according to police, while others were transferred to neighboring hospitals.
It was Seoul’s first Halloween celebration in three years, following the country’s lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and social estrangement. Many of the attendees were dressed up in masks and Halloween costumes.
Footage on social media showed many individuals, both rescue workers and ordinary folks, administering CPR on patients strewn on the street. Several videos showed scores of individuals by the roadside wrapped in blue plastic sheeting.
Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who provided first aid to the victims, recounted scenes of misery and mayhem.
“When I first attempted CPR there were two victims lying on the pavement. But the number exploded soon after, outnumbering first responders at the scene,” Lee said. “Many bystanders came to help us with CPR.”
“It’s hard to put in words to describe,” he added. “So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath and many of them had a bloody nose. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths.”
The neighborhood is normally congested all night on weekends, but it was more busy than usual because of Halloween festivities.
“[The] stampede happened in one small alley and a number of people started to fall down and got trapped, got trampled and crushed, with some losing consciousness,” he said.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government, which had issued emergency text messages asking residents to come home as soon as possible, said it had received reports of 355 missing individuals as a result of the tragedy.
According to certain local media, the stampede erupted as a big crowd rushed to an Itaewon pub after hearing that an unnamed celebrity had arrived there.
Authorities stated they were looking into the incident’s actual cause. President Yoon Suk-yeol presided over an emergency meeting with key advisers and established a national mourning period for the accident on Sunday.
“This is truly tragic,” Yoon said in a statement. “A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.”
US President Joe Biden and his wife sent their condolences and wrote: “We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.”
The accident is one of the country’s bloodiest since a ferry sinking in 2014 that killed 304 people, the majority of whom were high school students.