Victim’s parents at a community service center after the Halloween stampede in Seoul.
Seoul:
In tears, Philomene Abby’s hands trembled as she asked South Korean community center workers for any news of her 22-year-old son, missing in the wake of a crowding in Seoul that killed at least 151 people on Saturday Were.
His son Masela had gone to work in a club in Etawah area of the city at around 6 pm on Saturday. She was last seen by Ms. Abby, a resident of Seoul, Ivory Coast.
“I called his number but … he was not responding,” Ms Abby told Reuters while standing at the Hannam-dong Community Service Centre, which had become a temporary missing persons facility in the wake of the disaster.
The bureaucrats who usually handle birth certificates or housing registrations sought help from hundreds of troubled people seeking details of their relatives.
Center officials worked on emergency phone lines, making hundreds of frantic calls to find missing people.
“No one is telling me the truth,” said Ms Abby, who has lived in Seoul with her son for 18 years. Not receiving any news about the son, Ms. Abby left the center for the Ivory Coast embassy.
While she had a happy ending when Masela finally made it home safe and sound, others were not so lucky.
A man broke down and knelt on the floor after talking to some officials at the center, according to a Reuters witness. A white board in the main office lists the number of calls updated every hour since 5:30 a.m. on Sundays, bringing the total to more than 4,100.
By late Sunday night, all but one of the 154 deaths had been identified.
Interior Minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing that it takes longer for foreign nationals or teenagers who have not yet registered with the government, in such cases they have to check directly with families.
A father had come to collect the body of his 20-something daughter at a funeral home attached to a hospital in Seoul, receiving a call at 1 a.m. from officials who had identified her.
“This news came like a bolt from the blue sky,” he said.
The person, who asked not to be identified, said the family had ordered a car to take the body to their hometown outside Seoul and begin the three-day funeral process.
A funeral home official said there were at least two bodies from the incident at the facility on Sunday.
The official said it appeared that they were both from outside Seoul, which delayed the removal of the remains by family members.
“The families need to get this certificate from the police, then we can release the bodies to the families,” the official said.
“If the family wants to find out the cause of death, they can request an autopsy, but for these bodies, the cause of death seems very clear to me.”
A Seoul Metropolitan Government official told the girl’s family that plans to support the families of the victims were still being discussed.
“It is sad and difficult to inform you that the aid schemes for the families of the victims have not been decided yet,” the official said.
“If the family is moving the body to their hometown for the funeral, please do what you want to do.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)