According to media reports, a large-scale stampede occurred in Itaewon, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea on the evening of October 29th local time. It is reported that the incident has killed 151 people, including 4 Chinese.

On October 30, a student in South Korea who escaped from the disaster, still felt scared when he mentioned his experience last night (29th).

According to media reports, a large-scale stampede occurred in Itaewon, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea on the evening of October 29th local time. It is reported that the incident has killed 151 people, including 4 Chinese.

On October 29, the Hu classmate who went to Itaewon to look for friends also became a witness to the incident.

Itaewon has gathered many people, and she and her friends have been scattered by the crowd many times

"Itaewon is actually a very small place, and you can see it on the map for about two kilometers. (The stampede incident occurred) The trail is also very close to the subway entrance." Hu Tong said that many people walk on that trail when they come out of a bar or restaurant.

△Photo/respondent provided

On the evening of October 29, Hu went to Itaewon to find his Chinese friends. At around 20:30, after getting off the subway, students from Hu realized that there were more people that night than before.

She provided reporters with photos of the subway exit: an exit about 2 meters wide was crowded with people.

"This is just one of the holes, and the other (exits) are blocked even more severely." said Hu Tong.

Why are there so many people going to Itaewon?

Hu’s classmate said, “I’m going to Itaewon for Halloween”, which seems to have become a common thing for everyone. Due to the epidemic, Halloween was not the first three years, and this time it was a rare opportunity. Two weeks ago, the Korean store started warming up for Halloween.

"The first one or two weeks were the mid-term week of Korean college, and everyone worked hard to study." Hu further said that this time she also thought that since she finished the exam, she would come out to have a good time to release the pressure.

Class Hu met his friend at about 20:50 that day.

"At the time, although I was a little worried that there would be something wrong with too many people, I was still blinded by the joy of celebrating Halloween." Hu recalled that after seeing his friends, they looked for cosplayers on the road to take pictures and play. "At that time, a stall was set up on the roadside to put on special makeup for everyone, and a bunch of people lined up."

"My friend passed the path (Itaewon) at 8:30. He said that behind him was no longer walking with his legs, but was squeezed down by the people behind him." Hu Tong said that there were also many traffic police commanding on the road that day, but there were more and more people behind him, and she and her friends were dispersed by the crowd many times.

is glad that she left early

"About 11 o'clock (at night), a friend posted a video to tell me that someone died in Itaewon." Hu said, but she didn't know the specific reason, "Some people said it was because of trampling."

In communicating with reporters, Hu also specifically mentioned that someone was deliberately hitting someone in Itaewon that day. She called those people "crazy".

"It was already very crowded, and there was also a 'crazy man' deliberately squeezed people. I was pushed forward when I was walking on the road that day. Fortunately, I stood firm." said Hu.

Because there are too many people, after playing in Itaewon for more than 2 hours, the Hu family and his friends chose to leave. "When a few of us international students were wearing masks and crowded in the crowd, I told my friends that I felt like I was almost lacking in oxygen."

Not long after they left, a friend sent a message to the Hu classmates that the ambulance and the US military near Itaewon were all here.

Hu family provided a 4-second video to the reporter. In the video, many people fell to the ground, ambulance personnel were rescued, and two foreigners dressed in US military uniforms also appeared in the video.

After returning to the rental house that night, the Hu family member felt scared. "Later I found out that more than a hundred people died, and many of them were women in their teens and twenty years old." Hu's classmate was glad that she left early. "The friends around her were not injured. It seemed that everyone left early like me because there were too many people. People who did not leave also took advantage of the chaos to escape the disaster."

Regarding the stampede, Hu's classmate believed that "maybe there has been no stampede in South Korea in recent years, so many people did not expect it."

However, she also believed that the accident might have been caused by someone on purpose, "because someone pushed people in the crowd, and someone was fighting inside." Hu said.

column editor: Zhao Hanlu Text editor: Fang Ying Title picture source: Xinhua News Agency Photo editor: Su Wei

Source: Author: Xiaoxiang Morning News Wang Chacha