S Korea Halloween crowd crush: How it turned deadly?
President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea has proclaimed a period of national mourning following a fatal Halloween crush in Seoul, where grieving family members went to the city’s hospitals in search of their lost loved ones.
In a statement released hours after 153 people died in a stampede in Seoul’s Itaewon area, Yoon stated, “This is very tragic.”
“The government will declare a period of national mourning from today until the accident is brought under control,” he said.
The majority of the victims, according to fire officials, were women and young adults in their 20s, and 19 of them were foreigners from Iran, Uzbekistan, China, and Norway.
37 of the additional 133 injuries were significant.
The accident was dubbed the deadliest occurrence of its kind in South Korean history by the Yonhap news agency. It occurred shortly after 10 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT) when a large crowd crowded a small passageway near the Hamilton Hotel.
It took place at the city’s first Halloween celebration in three years when COVID-19 limitations and social exclusion were relaxed. According to reports, tens of thousands of partygoers dressed in Halloween masks and costumes had travelled to Itaewon for the occasion.
Although some local media said that incident occurred when a sizable crowd of people rushed to a nearby bar after hearing that an unnamed celebrity had visited there, the reason for the crush was not immediately obvious.
People ended up stacking on top of one another as witnesses reported struggling to escape the tight crush in the downhill alley.
One unnamed witness was quoted by the Yonhap news agency as stating, “Individuals kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people shouting and falling down like dominos.” As others continued to press without recognising that people were falling to the ground at the beginning of the stampede, I worried that I would also be crushed to death.
Jeon Ga-eul, 30, told the AFP news agency, “There were so many people just being shoved around and I was entangled in the crush and I couldn’t get out at first too.” “I had the impression that something would go wrong.”
Belgian resident of Seoul Babette Vanderhaeghen informed the Korea Joong Ang Daily that she managed to flee the brawl. There were way too many people there, we felt we were going to die, she claimed.
Another survivor accused bar and club owners of preventing individuals who were trying to flee the crush, which she claimed was the cause of the high death toll.
The survivor, who wished to remain anonymous, told Yonhap that it appeared like there were more victims since people tried to flee to nearby businesses but were turned away because it was after business hours.
Numerous persons who looked to be unconscious were being treated in a chaotic scene by firefighters and bystanders in videos and pictures taken in the immediate aftermath. Footage from later in the evening showed emergency personnel in orange vests moving even more dead on stretchers into ambulances as well as dozens of bodies laid out on the pavement covered in bed linens.
The Seoul Metropolitan administration announced on Sunday that it has received reports of 355 missing individuals as a result of the tragedy. The government had earlier sent out emergency text messages asking those in Itaewon to immediately return home.
According to the report, 60 staff members have been sent across roughly 50 hospitals to assist the victims’ grieving families.
A harrowing scene was described by The Korea Herald as family members sought for their loved ones outside the Soonchunhyang University hospital, which is only a short distance from Itaewon.
One mother who was hunting for her son claimed she had called the police after he didn’t pick up the phone. She hurried to Itaewon after hearing from a police officer that her son’s last phone activity had occurred there.
She told the Korea Herald, “When I got to Itaewon, they informed me there were a lot of lost phones and that I should try the adjacent hospital and see if he made it there. When asked about the death toll at that time, she responded, “140? Wow, that’s a lot. He might have passed away. I’m not sure. He is not reachable.
Another distraught mother confessed to the media that she had alternated between the hospital and a nearby gym where the victims’ bodies had been removed.
She questioned the policemen there, “Where do I have to go?” Please explain what I must do.
How do crowd crushes become deadly?
Authorities in South Korea say they’re still investigating the exact cause of the latest tragedy.
Before this, the deadliest crushing disaster in South Korea’s history was at a pop concert in 2005, where 11 people were killed and around 60 others were injured.
Concerts and sporting events are locations where deadly crowd crushes happen the most, due to the high volume of people and tight, enclosed spaces.
People die standing up, and those who fall die because the bodies on top of them exert such pressure that breathing becomes impossible.
After the Astroworld crowd surge in Houston claimed the lives of 10 concert attendees, G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk in England, said it takes only 30 seconds before you lose consciousness, and around about six minutes before “compressive or restrictive asphyxia” sets in.
“As people struggle to get up, arms and legs get twisted together. Blood supply starts to be reduced to the brain,” he said.
“That’s a generally the attributed cause of death — not crushing, but suffocation.”
Most recently, a crowd crush was triggered at an Indonesian soccer game when riot police released tear gas in a stadium containing 42,000 spectators.
Hundreds rushed for the exits to avoid the gas, resulting in a crush that trampled or suffocated 34 to death almost instantly.
The death toll rose substantially over the following hours and days with a total of 135 people, including children and two police officers, passing away due to injuries sustained in the crush.
At this very corner, at first the person in front walked forward in a normal rhythm, but suddenly a squeal from the back forced everyone to shove down the slope.
#Itaewon #ITAEWONHALLOWEEN #SeoulStampede #prayforitaewon pic.twitter.com/hRIIMpRo3B— Human (@proudlyhindus) October 31, 2022
