Warning: Graphic content.
A fatal accident killed at least 153 other people when tens of thousands of Halloween enthusiasts were trapped in a narrow alley just 3 meters wide.
Chaos erupted in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday night as more than 100,000 people rushed into the popular holiday district of Itaewon.
The terrifying images show the domain filled with revelers slightly to move moments before the stampede, The Sun reports.
Witnesses criticized the lack of public and said emergency services only responded when the crash turned deadly.
It is understood that the government did not make any arrangements to handle the expected number of other people planning to flood the area.
Enthusiastic teenagers and young adults flocked to the capital for the first unrestricted Halloween celebrations in 3 years since Covid regulations were lifted.
But instead, they found themselves caught in a terrifying stampede as the festivities drew large numbers of people.
Tragically, at least 153 other people were reported dead and 82 injured, 19 of them seriously.
Of the dead, 97 were women and 57 men. Four of the victims were teenagers only, while 96 were in their twenties, South Korea’s Interior and Security Ministry said.
South Korea said the deaths included 26 foreigners from China, Iran, Russia, France, the United States, Australia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Austria, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Norway.
The U. S. Embassy in Seoul showed two U. S. citizens were among the dead.
Witnesses say the crowd “stirred” as the night progressed.
Shortly before 10:20 p. m. , the stage soared when a stampede broke out as other people were forced down the narrow, sloping alley after it was already full.
Those at the top of the 41-meter-long trail began to fall, sending other people under them and knocking others down.
Panicked revelers were trapped and struggled to breathe before many went into cardiac arrest.
Horrific photographs shared on social media showed others seeking to climb the sides of buildings to escape the mounting pressure, while others desperately screamed for help.
One witness described the number of stacks as a “grave. “
Despite the horror unfolding just 97 meters from the nearest fire station, rescuers had to struggle to get the sick out due to traffic jams and overcrowding.
A 14-year-old woman said she desperately called police twice for help that night, but her considerations went unanswered.
Seo Na-yeon said she and her friends felt the length of the crowd was already dangerous when they arrived at the domain at 6 p. m. , the New York Times reports.
She told the government that traffic control was necessary, but said she had not noticed any police officer handling the crowds; Some in the domain are moving the street vendors.
After being trapped in the mass mass of other people in the narrow alley, Seo and his friends called again and begged them to intervene.
But police were reportedly not involved in the stampede until it was fatal.
Videos shared online showed a pile of bodies trapped between buildings, some in the back appearing unconscious, while others approached medics who struggled to free them from the crash.
Rescuers were filmed trying to shoot other people trapped under the bodies as cash hospitals were introduced to deal with many victims.
Survivors were also noted scattered on the sidewalk wrapped in aluminum blankets to remain after the crash.
Police said dozens of other people were receiving CPR on the streets, while many more were taken to nearby hospitals.
Stressed families frantically called the government for updates as uploads lacking user reports were archived.
A father received a heartbreaking call from the government at 1 a. m. M. , his daughter in her twenties had been murdered.
He told Reuters: “This came here like a ray of blue sky. “
The crisis is the deadliest in the country since a ferry sank in 2014 that killed 304 people, mostly students from top schools.
By midday, Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said at least 90 percent of patients had been identified, and that delays affected some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have ID cards.
Harrowing photographs of the aftermath show costumes and belongings covered in blood stains left on the narrow street.
But 24 hours earlier there were already cautious signs that the festivities were attracting large numbers of people.
While detailed crisis prevention plans are needed for important occasions, such as festivals, those protocols do not apply to public spaces where mass crowds are expected; Obviously, there is no responsible agency.
Kim Dae-jin, a professor of protection engineering and crisis mitigation studies at Woosuk University, said protection plans will be drawn up when it becomes known that thousands of others are about to descend in the same place.
He said: “Even if there is no event organizer, if a large number of other people are expected as they were for this event, it is mandatory that the establishments involved take preventive measures in their promotional efforts in accordance with the possible risk of crisis. “
“A tragedy and a disaster”
Those affected and their families had questioned an obvious lack of crowd control.
Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene: “You’d see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks, but it’s several times bigger than all that. “
With the relief of the covid pandemic, in April the curfews for bars and restaurants and the limit of ten people for personal gatherings were lifted.
Professor Lee Young-ju of Seoul University’s Department of Fire and Disasters said the crisis could have been “prevented or controlled. “
He told YTN radio: “District events organized by local governments or establishments will need to have plans and protective measures in place if more than 1,000 more people are expected.
“But it was a community occasion without an express organizer, without the security function.
“It’s a crisis that can have been controlled or avoided.
“But this was not fixed, no one took over the duty in the first place. “
Interior Minister Lee Sang-min said police had deployed more because they didn’t expect Halloween crowds to be much larger than in other years.
He said police aimed to control crowds at large-scale protests in other Seoul neighborhoods on Saturday.
Following the incident, sites across the country will end Halloween-themed events.
Devastated relatives and friends of those affected left wreaths at the site.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared national mourning Sunday, calling the crowd “truly tragic. “
He said, “A tragedy and a crisis that have not happened took position in the center of Seoul last night. “
This story is published through The Sun and reproduced with permission.
Originally published as stampede in South Korea: Terrifying photo shows another 100,000 people crammed into a 6-meter driveway