htmlOn the evening of the 129th, a large-scale stampede occurred in Itaewon area of Seoul, South Korea.
has caused 153 deaths and more than 100 injuries. There are 22 foreigners among the victims of
, including 4 Chinese citizens.
In South Korea, Itaewon is synonymous with "exotic style". Many foreigners live here, and bars and nightclubs are quite dense.
Originally, this is the party center for Halloween.
From the end of October every year, a large number of young people in strange clothes gather here, walking around the streets and celebrating the carnival.
This is the first Halloween after the lockdown has been lifted in three years of the epidemic.
Many people have started preparing early and used all their tricks to amazed the audience. Some foreigners have flew to South Korea to feel the carnival atmosphere.
And last night, there were about 100,000 people gathered in Itaewon area,
However, the streets here are not spacious, and so many people cannot be squeezed out in the narrow alley.
Before midnight came, Itaewon became a purgatory on earth....
html l0After ten o'clock in the evening, the situation in the back streets and alleys of Hamilton Hotel became bad.
This is a slope with a total length of about 40 meters and a width of less than 4 meters.
On weekdays, if you walk a little more people in this alley, you will feel cramped.
Half, but at the time of the incident, more than 300 people were trapped here.
At first, although the slope was crowded, the crowd could still move slowly.
But not long after, a thrust suddenly came from the above the slope, causing many people to stagger. People at low places fell to the ground uncontrollably.
In an instant, the fallen crowd "stacked" together, heart-wrenching screams and calls for help came one after another,
Helplessly, the music in the nightclubs around was too noisy. The people behind didn't know what was going on, and they were still moving forward, causing more casualties.
Someone climbed the wall to escape, or stood on a nearby electric box,
But most people are powerless to do anything about their situation,
can only be sandwiched in the crowd, and was pushed around with pain, unable to breathe at all.
They fell from a row of high places like dominoes.
Nearly half of the people trapped here were oversqueezed and suffered cardiac arrest symptoms, and later died due to ineffective rescue.
Smith couple from Florida, USA are witnesses of the accident.
Last night, they lived in the Hamilton Hotel. The two wanted to experience the carnival atmosphere of Halloween for themselves.
But because the crowd was too crowded, they returned to the hotel room to rest early.
After late at night, they suddenly heard screams from downstairs.
overlooking the alley, and found that there was already chaos outside.
Street was blocked, and about 20 police cars and ambulances appeared at the scene. Some people were undergoing cardiopulmonary resuscitation rescue.
"When we saw someone covering the faces of those people with towels or other items, we realized that they were all dead. This was really terrible." The two said.
lives nearby. Mr. Cui, who often walks in the alleys on weekdays, said that
There are many people in this place, and there are several very popular bars and clubs nearby. Every time the venue ends, the staff will personally direct the situation. , to guide people to the main road to ensure safety.
This slope just connects Itaewon subway station and the main block, and there are many bars to attract people to stop. Many people will follow the slope and walk back to Itaewon,
. Once someone falls above the slope, the people below will definitely fall.
The police received a report at around 10:15 last night.
But when the ambulance staff arrived at the scene, they were too dense to squeeze into the accident scene as soon as possible because the crowd was too dense.
missed the 4-minute golden rescue time for cardiac arrest, causing a lot of tragedy.
Most of the victims are young people, and the number of women is about twice that of men.
At present, the number of people reported missing is as high as more than 350,
, and many injured people are seriously injured, and the number of deaths is expected to increase further.
This is the largest public safety accident in South Korea since the Sewol incident in 2014.
caused shock to the world, and the heads of state of many countries expressed condolences.
However, such a tragedy is not inevitable.
A Korean university professor bluntly said that compared to those who blamed the drinking and carnival on the spot,
The authorities failed to control the flow of people and did not make safety plans in advance, resulting in the inability to deal with the accident in a timely manner. This is the biggest problem.
In previous years, when Itaewon held a Halloween event, about 800 policemen stood guard and patrolled on guard to maintain order.
However, this year, the police force has dropped sharply, and only 200 police officers were left at the scene.
And most people are busy inspecting drugs, arresting other cases such as secret photography, molesting and harassment, and have no time to take into account possible stampede accidents.
Multiple survivors also proved this fact.
From the beginning of the Halloween event to the accident, people could not see the police at all, and no one maintained order. Everyone could only survive by instinct.
Then where have these policemen who should have appeared in Itaewon?
South Korean opposition party transferred the artillery fire to the new president Yong Seok-yeol .
It is precisely because he moved the Presidential Palace from Blue House to Longshan, and the Longshan Police Station has to dispatch 700 police officers every day to ensure the safety of the president.
which causes insufficient police force to ensure the safety of Halloween activities.
So in their eyes, Yoon Seok-yeol is the "indirect murderer" of this accident.
However, the South Korean Minister of Administration said that on the day of the accident, due to protests in many places in Seoul, the police force was very dispersed, so a large number of police forces could not be deployed in Itaewon.
Moreover, this is not a problem that can be solved by arranging police and firefighters in advance.
Korean media also pointed out that according to relevant regulations, the organizers of
event organizers need to make arrangements in advance to determine the parts that the organizers, local governments, and police departments need to be responsible for.
However, the organizers of this event are not clear. The emergency countermeasures meeting before the event only discussed the epidemic-related issues, and there was no crowding and stampede incident preparation.
No matter what the reason is, insufficient police force is one of the reasons for the major accidents.
Although almost all police and ambulance personnel from Seoul and even all over South Korea were dispatched to support it,
, it was too late and the tragedy had already occurred.
What makes people sad is that not everyone can experience this pain.
Although the accident happened in front of me, many Korean people at the scene did not go home as soon as possible as required by the police. but continued to carnival and take photos on the streets. There were still long queues in front of the bars and nightclubs around.
A 24-year-old woman said frankly that she had been attending the party that night until the 30th I just finished my morning and went home. Although she kept hearing the roar of ambulances during the period, she thought it was part of the Halloween event.
"Although hundreds of people died nearby, I don't have a particularly real feeling."
In addition, some survivors at the scene accused that nearby businesses were reluctant to help them and were unwilling to open the door and let the people in refuge.
If they do this, they should be able to rescue them.
Starting today, South Korea enters a national mourning period until it ends on November 5th. Variety shows such as
Household song " and "Running Man" are suspended, and the mall has also canceled the corresponding Halloween activities,
to express condolences to these innocent lives.
In addition, many places of mourning have been set up in Seoul, and professionals will also provide psychological counseling for the families of the victims.
But the tragedy has happened and time cannot be reversed.
For many years in the coming year, Seoul people may not be able to maintain the same mentality to welcome the arrival of Halloween......
Source: What things in the UK
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