The death toll from the Seoul crowd disaster has risen to 154, as South Korean authorities investigate one of its worst-ever disasters.
According to CNN, the country has begun a week-long period of mourning over the Seoul crowd disaster, while officials attempt to understand how the devastating crush took place.
At least 26 foreign nationals, including two US citizens, are among the dead. More than a dozen embassies around the globe have confirmed victims from their country, the CNN report added.
What caused Saturday’s Seoul crowd disaster is unclear, but witnesses say partygoers were packed tightly into narrow streets in the capital’s nightlife district of Itaewon, as people enjoyed the first Halloween weekend since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
Nearly all of the victims at least 150 have been identified; police told CNN. The toll included 56 men and 97 women, South Korea’s Interior and Safety Ministry reported.
As of 5 p.m. local time Sunday (4 a.m. ET), the number of people injured had risen to 133, of whom 37 were seriously injured, the ministry said.
“There were rows and rows of people with tarps covering them in the street,” Emily Farmer, a 27-year-old English teacher in Seoul who was passing through Itaewon, told CNN.
Farmer and her friends were “overwhelmed” by the crowds on the street and decided to enter a bar. Shortly after, rumours started spreading that somebody had died and patrons were not allowed to leave. Farmer said she received an emergency message from the government alerting them to “a dangerous situation in the area,” and later was allowed to leave the bar, when she discovered the scale of the tragedy.
“It was horrible,” she said. “Not everyone died instantly.” Groups of people were crying, she added. Many victims were receiving CPR and had their costumes taken off to allow medics at the scene to resuscitate them.
“They were still pulling people (out) because it was so crowded,” she added.
Another eyewitness, Sung Sehyun, told CNN that the street space was like a “jammed subway” on Saturday evening, with Halloween partygoers packed so tightly that it was difficult to move around.
Suah Cho added that people had started to push and shove, and there was a lot of screaming. She eventually managed to take a detour and fled to safety but had seen people climbing buildings to survive. She added that the costumes people were wearing added to the confusion; “there was also a police officer screaming but we couldn’t really tell (if it) was a real police officer because so many people were wearing costumes.”
Videos and photos posted to social media show people crammed together, standing shoulder to shoulder in the narrow street.
Crowds are not unusual for that area, or for Seoul residents, who are used to jam-packed subways and streets in a city of almost 10 million.
After the first emergency calls came in around 10:24 p.m., authorities rushed to the scene – but the sheer volume of people made it difficult to reach those who needed help. Video posted to social media showed people performing compressions on other partygoers lying on the ground as they waited for medical assistance.
A number of countries, including the US, China, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, Norway and France, have confirmed that their nationals were among the victims.