Stampede in South Korea: first arrests of police officers requested

The team investigating the human avalanche that left More than 150 dead during the Halloween festivities in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul, on Thursday requested the first arrest warrants for senior police officers for their alleged negligence in preventing and responding to the tragedy.

(Also: In photos: this is how the narrow alleys of the tragedy in Itaewon, Seoul look)

The team set up by the National Police Agency (NPA) requested warrants to arrest Yongsan District Commissioner (to which Itaewon belongs), Lee Im-jae, a superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Police, Park Sung-min, a an intelligence officer from the Yongsan Police Station, Kim Jin-ho; and an emergency follow-up officer from Yongsan, Song Byung-joo.

All of them had already been removed from their posts. since the special investigation team established after the tragedy began to investigate his role before and after the human avalanche.

(See Also: Seoul: Dramatic Videos Of Itaewon Halloween Festival Stampede)

Police believe Lee is suspected of negligence for arriving 50 minutes after the deadly avalanche took place and failing to take crowd control measures despite earlier warnings about crowding in Itaewon, a neighborhood where thousands of people flock each year. to celebrate Halloween.

It is believed in turn Park, the highest-ranking official under investigation over the tragedy, ordered the removal of an internal intelligence report. that warned of the possibility of an accident in a neighborhood where every year the number of people celebrating Halloween increased.

(You can read: Stampede in South Korea: the harsh story of a Latina who survived a tragedy)

Kim is accused of following Park’s order and having his subordinates remove the aforementioned report, while Song, who was in charge of emergencies in Yongsan on the day of the avalanche, is credited with failing to immediately report the avalanche. the situation to Lee.

The accumulation of hundreds of people during the Halloween celebrations in a narrow alley in Itaewon caused an avalanche on the night of October 29 that left 158 ​​dead, most of them women between the ages of 20 and 30, and around thirty seriously injured.

(Keep reading: South Korea: The K-pop actor and singer who died in the stampede in Seoul)

Both the Yongsan district council, its fire and police departments, as well as the Seoul Metropolitan Police are under investigation following the tragedy.

Meanwhile, the central government, which admitted the absence of protocols in the Asian country to increase resources in terms of security in events that lack an organizer, has promised to present a proposal this month to reform the law that regulates emergency and response systems police.

EFE