Footage taken from inside a crowd in Seoul exhibits the panic amongst Halloween partygoers earlier than a crush that killed greater than 150 individuals.
Shouting and screams will be heard as partygoers tried to push their approach by the slender alleyway within the Itaewon space, whereas music from the close by nightclubs continued to blare within the background.
The present loss of life toll stands at 15, principally youngsters and adults of their twenties, with warnings it might rise additional. South Korean officers stated greater than 90 per cent of these killed have now been recognized.
Different eyewitness footage confirmed emergency employees and pedestrians attempting to resuscitate those that had been injured on the roads, as some had been carried away from the scene.
An evening of partying become a tragedy because the crowds swelled within the space’s backstreets and panic erupted.
Witnesses stated the gang surge prompted “a hell-like” chaos as individuals fell on one another “like dominos”.
Some individuals had been bleeding from their noses and mouths whereas being given CPR, witnesses stated, as others wearing Halloween costumes continued to sing and dance close by, oblivious to the severity of the state of affairs.
The streets had been so densely filled with individuals and slow-moving automobiles that it was nearly inconceivable for emergency employees and ambulances to succeed in the alley shortly, stated some witnesses.
Among the many lifeless are 19 foreigners, stated Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan hearth division. The victims embody individuals from Iran, Norway, and Uzbekistan, in addition to 4 Chinese language nationals and one Australian.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a one-week nationwide mourning interval and ordered flags at authorities buildings and public places of work to fly at half-staff.
Throughout a televised speech, he stated supporting the households of the victims, together with their funeral preparations, and the remedy of the injured could be a prime precedence for his authorities.
He additionally referred to as for officers to totally examine the reason for the accident and evaluate the security of different giant cultural and leisure occasions to make sure they proceed safely.
“That is actually devastating. The tragedy and catastrophe that needn’t have occurred came about within the coronary heart of Seoul amid Halloween (celebrations),” Yoon stated throughout the speech.
“I really feel heavy-hearted and can’t include my unhappiness as a president accountable for the individuals’s lives and security.”