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South Korea woke up in shock on Sunday after the gigantic Halloween stampede on Saturday night in the Itaewon district of the capital Seoul, which killed at least 153 people and injured 134. Seoul authorities have also reported the disappearance of 2,642 people and the death of at least 20 foreigners. The reasons for the tragedy are not yet determined.
On Sunday, the day after the tragedy, South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl addressed the nation and declared immediate national mourning for the victims of the Halloween stampede in the Itaewon district of Seoul. After the head of state, statements and tributes followed one another.
“It is an unprecedented drama. We have to establish the exact cause of the accident,” People Power Party leader Chung Jin-suk wrote on Facebook. Opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said he was “shocked and devastated.”
“We have to focus on quickly identifying victims and supporting bereaved families, as well as recovering the injured,” he added. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon interrupted a tour of Europe that had started on October 21.
Around 100,000 people, according to local media estimates, many of them very young, had flocked to the Itaewon district on Saturday night to celebrate Halloween for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the chronology established by the emergency services, the first calls for help were made at 10:24 p.m. (local time). Three minutes later, just before the alarms began to sound, four emergency vehicles were dispatched to the scene.
At 11:50 p.m., emergency services from Incgeon, a city west of Seoul, and Gyeonggi, a neighboring province of Seoul, were called in for reinforcements. 848 rescuers, including 346 firefighters, were mobilized while the Minister of Health and Welfare, Cho Kyoo-hong, arrived at the scene at 1:40 a.m. on Sunday.
Most of the victims were in their 20s.
The death toll rose rapidly, from about 50 people in cardiac arrest at 2 a.m. to 151 dead at 7 a.m. and 153 dead at 11 a.m. “Most of the victims are in their 20s,” said Choi Seong-beom, fire chief of the Yongsan district, which includes Itaewon.
“As the people in front fell, those in the back were crushed,” a witness reported to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, while others described the “screams” of those trapped. “There were a lot of people lying on the ground and a lot of paramedics. People were also giving CPR,” another witness said.
The victims were taken to different hospitals in the city. The bodies of those who died at the scene were first placed in a nearby gym – so that hospitals could focus on the injured – before being transferred to health centers.
As soon as the first information became known, President Yoon called two emergency meetings and called for all available resources to be mobilized to help the injured and for the cause of the tragedy to be thoroughly investigated.
This Sunday, expressions of sympathy and solidarity with the people of South Korea poured in from around the world. Among other leaders, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, along with his wife Jill, sent their “deepest condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones.”
“We mourn the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to those injured,” the US president said.
Meanwhile, the first controversies have begun to emerge. According to some reports, the police tried to channel the crowd, but without success. Many denounce that the Yongsan police, and more precisely the Itaewon police, lacked personnel and had been asking for reinforcements for several months.
In addition to that, some people present at the festivities were criticized on the Internet for filming the drama scene while still dancing and singing.
AFP, local media
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