Seoul: At least 149 people, mostly teens and young adults, in their 20s were killed after a large crowd celebrating Halloween broke into an alleyway in a nightlife area in South Korea’s capital Seoul on Saturday night, emergency officials said. Another 65 people were injured in the scuffle in Seoul’s Itaewon district, Yeongsan Fire Station chief Choi Sung-beom said at a briefing at the scene. Officials said the condition of 19 of the injured is critical and they are being treated for emergency, which could raise the death toll.
It was the first Halloween event in Seoul three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing. Many of the party-goers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes.
Some eyewitnesses said that as the evening progressed, the crowd was becoming unruly and agitated. The incident happened around 10:20 pm (1320 GMT).
“Many people fell during a Halloween celebration, and we have a large number of casualties,” Choi said. Many of those killed were near a nightclub.
Choi said many of the victims were women in their twenties.
Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes before the stampede, with police at times having trouble maintaining crowd control in anticipation of the Halloween event.
Moon Joo-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the streets before the incident.
“It was at least 10 times more crowded than usual,” he said.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – At least 149 people, mostly teenagers and young adults, were killed in South Korea after a Halloween-celebrating crowd marched into a street in a night-life area in Seoul. https://t.co/ZBB3cKhxO5 pic.twitter.com/evlVibGuUw— Reuters (@Reuters) 29 October 2022
Social media footage showed hundreds of people trapped in the narrow, sloping alley, crushed and motionless as emergency officials and police tried to rescue them.
Yongsan district fire chief Choi said all the deaths were caused by a crush in the same narrow street.
Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire officials and civilians treating dozens of people unconscious.
Fire officials and eyewitnesses said people continued to pour into the narrow lane that was already wall-to-wall when people at the top of the sloping road collapsed, causing those below them to fall on top of others. .
An unidentified 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 over by the crush of people in the street.
A Reuters eyewitness said a temporary morgue had been built in a building adjacent to the scene. According to the witness, around four dozen bodies were later carried on wheeled stretchers and taken to a government facility to identify the victims.
Itawan District is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, with dozens of its bars and restaurants packed for Halloween on Saturday, as businesses face a sharp decline in three years after the pandemic.
Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene: “You’ll see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks…
Two foreigners are also among the dead and others have been admitted to nearby hospitals.
With the easing of the COVID pandemic in April, curfews on bars and restaurants and the 10 people limit for private gatherings were lifted. An outdoor facade mandate was lifted in May.
Officials said they are probing the exact cause of the incident.
The disaster is one of the country’s deadliest since a 2014 yacht sank, which killed 304 people, mainly high school students.
Criticism of Sewol’s sinking and official response shocked South Korea and prompted widespread self-discovery over security measures in the country, which are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday’s crush.
President Yoon Suk-yol chaired an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered the formation of a task force to secure resources to treat the injured and launch a thorough investigation into the causes of the disaster.