Halloween Eve , a tragedy occurred: a narrow street in Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea, fatal stampede in a crowd of about 100,000 people. As of press time, the incident had killed 149 people, seriously injured 19 people and slightly injured 57 people. The deceased also included two foreigners, and another 15 foreigners were injured.
It is reported that 100,000 people came to Itaewon to participate in the Halloween carnival in 2022, and the tragedy began to happen at around 10:15 pm local time. A large group of people flocked into an alley near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, pushing forward and backward.
As a narrow street suddenly flooded into a large number of people, the people could not be evacuated at all. Many people in the crowded crowd showed symptoms of dyspnea, which directly caused cardiac arrest. The Hamilton Hotel is one of the famous gathering places in Seoul.
After the accident, firefighters and medical staff rushed to the scene, but due to the dense crowds of people on the scene, many injured people could not get the first treatment. At around 11:20 pm, according to the video and photos at the scene, dozens of people were undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the streets of Itaewon, and more people were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment.
ambulances lined up in the streets, police began to maintain order, while first aid workers carried the injured in single frames. First responders and pedestrians performed CPR on the injured on the street.
The photos at the scene can be seen, and there are at least dozens of corpses on the ground. Those who died unfortunately were covered with blue or yellow blankets.
South Korea's National Fire Service official said that the total number of injured people on Saturday exceeded 1,000, and the confirmed death toll is not the final number. As the rescue further deepens, the casualties will also change. National Fire Service official Moon Hyun-joo told Reuters : "The area is still very chaotic, so we are still working hard to figure out the exact number of injured people."
As of 6:00 Beijing time, the police station received 270 missing cases
Seoul Yongsan Fire Service Director Choi Sung-bang said that after the stampede in Itaewon on Saturday night, emergency rescuers continued to send the injured to various hospitals in Seoul. He also said that most of the bodies were taken outside the hospital, and some were transferred to nearby gymnasiums, waiting for further identification.
Rescue reports in South Korea say that most of the victims are teenagers and young people in their 20s.
That night, Seoul used almost all the available first aid resources. According to Longshan Fire Minister Cui Sung-fan, there were 1,701 rescue workers at the scene, including 517 firefighters, 1,100 policemen and 70 government staff. Various rescue vehicles can also be seen everywhere on the scene.
South Korean President Yong Seok-yeol issued a statement asking for the rapid treatment of the injured and the safety of the celebration venues. And he also chaired an emergency meeting, ordering treatment and evacuation of people from the area as a priority.
At the same time, he also asked to find out the identity of the victim as soon as possible, because the family that has lost contact with their family is in a state of extreme concern. Kim Eun Hye, senior public relations official at the Presidential Office, said Yoon Seo-hye immediately launched an emergency management team led by South Korean Prime Minister and ordered the Minister of Home Affairs and Security to start investigating the cause of the incident.
Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon is currently visiting Europe and decided to return home immediately after learning the news. He is currently on the way back.
A local reporter said that after the stampede accident, people's mobile phones received emergency notices on their mobile phones urging them to go home as soon as possible.
authorities said they are investigating the exact cause of the stampede. Like many stampedes, the source of this fatal incident may be a fall caused by crowding. It is reported that the accident occurred on a slope where a person on the slope fell, causing a huge squeeze. Under such personnel density, it is difficult to get up once you fall, which in turn causes the subsequent butterfly effect .
Some local media have also reported earlier that a stampede occurred after hearing an unknown celebrity visit Itaewon Bar.
The video exposed online also shows that in order to escape the crowd, someone tried to climb out of the wall in panic. And there seemed to be children among the injured.
According to the memories of the accident witnesses, "People who were squeezed into the crowd were crying. I think I would be crushed to death, so I could only breathe through a hole and cry for help." Other witnesses described the scene as crowded with arms to arms, and the chaos also made it impossible for people to hear each other's voices and call for help.
21-year-old Park Jung-hoon told reporters on the scene: "You will see crowds of people on Christmas and fireworks show...but this is ten times larger than any of them."
. After the stampede occurred, many people at the scene actually didn't know what was going on, but they just heard the sound of ambulances and police cars. Eyewitness Raphael Rashid told BBC, "No one really understands what happened, but there are already several police cars at the scene in front of Itaewon Station. The police stood in the police car and desperately told people to leave the area as soon as possible."
This terrible stampede was also one of the deadliest accidents in South Korea since the capsized Sewon ferry in 2014, killing 304 people. worldwide, this is the second major stampede death toll this year with a death toll of over 100. At the beginning of this month, on October 1, a riot broke out at the Kanjuluhan Stadium in Indonesia, causing a stampede, and 125 people were unfortunately killed.
This Halloween event in Itaewon is the first Halloween event without masks and no restrictions on the epidemic after the outbreak. Such a large-scale gathering is also because South Korea's epidemic prevention and control is gradually relaxing in recent months. Will Ripley of
CNN pointed out that the event "no masks are required, and there is no crowd size limit. There are warnings on the speakers telling people they need to be careful."
Itaewon is located on the eastern foot of the Nanshan Mountain in Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea. Itaewon is a famous business district with many nightclubs and bars.
The male protagonist in the Korean drama " Itaewon Class" which was popular the year before yesterday was opened in the bar here, and he also filmed the Halloween scene here directly.
"Itaewon Class" says: Most people will come to Itaewon to celebrate Halloween. It can be said that this is the first choice for most Seoul people to celebrate Halloween. In addition, not only Korean young people, but foreigners in Seoul also like to go there very much. In addition, Itaewon also has some foreign-style buildings, so it is said that Itaewon is like a street that compresses the world.
Although it is very prosperous here, its area is indeed very small, the streets are very narrow, and it accommodates so many people at the same time, and the danger coefficient is very high. In fact, before the stampede occurred, the police maintained order at the scene, but the incident eventually went out of control.
This Halloween is too sad for South Korea, and the festival carnival has become a painful memory.
