Officials reported more than 150 people were killed in a stampede at a Halloween celebration in central Seoul on Sunday, and South Korea’s president promised a thorough probe into one of the country’s worst-ever catastrophes.
The population surge and crush occurred in the capital’s famed Itaewon neighborhood, when up to 100,000 people — largely in their teens and twenties — flocked to celebrate Halloween Saturday night, packing the area’s tight alleyways and twisting streets.
President Yoon Suk-yeol proclaimed a national mourning period on Sunday, telling the nation in a televised speech that “a catastrophe and calamity occurred that should not have happened.”
He said the government “will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to ensure the same accident does not occur again in the future.”
“My heart is heavy and it is difficult to contain my sorrow,” he added before he visited the scene of the disaster and spoke to emergency workers.
Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon, who rushed back to South Korea from a work trip in Europe, said his office would set up a memorial altar at Seoul Plaza so the public could pay their respects to the victims, starting Monday morning.
“Most of the casualties are young people like our sons and daughters, which makes it even sadder,” Oh said while visiting the site of the disaster.
Eyewitnesses recalled being stuck in a tight, sloping lane and fighting to escape the suffocating mass as people piled on top of each other.
According to the interior ministry in Seoul, 153 individuals were killed in the stampede, which occurred at 10:00 p.m. local time (1300 GMT).
According to the report, the most of the casualties were young women in their twenties, with 133 persons hurt. According to a defense ministry spokesman in Seoul, three military people, including one soldier, were killed.
Seoul officials reported receiving 2,642 complaints of missing individuals.
Officials claimed Sunday that they had no clue what caused the incident, and witnesses recounted scenes of turmoil when a large throng panicked in a tiny alleyway.
LocalN shopkeepers told AFP that the number of people at the annual celebration was “unprecedentedly large” this year—the first event to be held without COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic began.
“There were so many people just being pushed around, and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first either,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP.
As questions began to emerge over the lack of security at the event, interior minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing that the police force had been occupied on the other side of town.
“A considerable number have been deployed at Gwanghwamun, where a large crowd was expected for a protest,” he said.
He said police had not expected such a large crowd at the Halloween event.
Paramedics at the scene, quickly overwhelmed by the number of victims, were asking passers-by to administer first aid.
In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims, described scenes of tragedy and chaos.
“So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath, and many of them had bloody noses. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths. ”
AFP photos showed scores of bodies on the pavement covered by bed sheets, and emergency workers dressed in orange vests loading even more bodies on stretchers into ambulances.
