151 dead and 82 injured in South Korea Halloween stampede: ‘People couldn’t communicate or breathe’ | Deadly stampede in South Korea

LOOK. Images show moment when panic breaks out at Halloween party

At about 10:20 p.m. local time, some 100,000 people gathered in the Itaewon entertainment district for a huge Halloween party. The drama is said to have taken place when people started pushing from backwards while the crowd was in a narrow street. Many people lost their balance and were trampled in the chaos that followed.

It was Seoul’s first Halloween event in three years after the country lifted covid restrictions. Many partygoers wore masks and Halloween costumes.

According to some witnesses, the crowd became increasingly unruly and restless as the evening wore on. Choi Sung-beom, fire chief of Yongsang district, many were killed near a nightclub. Many of the victims are women in their twenties, Choi said.

The fatalities are 97 women and 54 men, Choi reports. Among them are at least 19 foreigners, including from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway. There are no reports of Belgian casualties yet.

Firefighters said dozens of people had to be resuscitated due to cardiac arrest. In South Korea, emergency workers speak of cardiac arrest as long as a doctor has not officially pronounced the death of a person. After that, hour after hour, the true magnitude of the tragedy became apparent.

142 ambulances were sent to the scene to provide assistance to the victims. But due to the large crowd on the street it was at times almost impossible to get to the victims. Images show people lying on the floor, while emergency workers administer chest compressions and the police try to keep the crowd at a distance. Other images show bodies covered in sheets.

Flemish Laurent Marechal was on site when chaos broke out, he tells VRT NWS. “The situation has suddenly turned around, it was busy and suddenly people started pushing,” it sounds. “We were in a street at the time, when some tourists told us: ‘You should turn around, don’t come near the center of the street’.”

Marechal managed to escape, but saw several victims lying on the ground, covered with blue cloths.

Another witness told CNN: “I saw people pushing from left and right, while people were stuck in the middle. They had no way to communicate, they couldn’t breathe.”

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South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has ordered an emergency meeting on the situation. Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was visiting Europe, has cut short his trip and is flying back to Seoul as soon as possible.

An estimated 100,000 people had come to Itaewon to celebrate Halloween, the first since the corona crisis without wearing masks and keeping their distance. In images shared on social media, people complained about huge crowds earlier in the evening.

See also: 146 dead in South Korea Halloween rush