Warning: Graphic content.
A deadly crush killed at least 153 people as tens of thousands of Halloween fans were trapped in a narrow alleyway just three metres wide.
Chaos erupted on the streets of Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday night as more than 100,000 people rammed into the popular party district Itaewon.
Chilling pictures show the area crammed with partygoers barely able to move moments before the stampede, The Sun reports.
Witnesses have criticised the lack of crowd control and say emergency services only got involved when the crush became fatal.
It is understood authorities failed to make preparations to manage the anticipated number of people who planned to flood into the area.
Excited teenagers and young adults had poured into the capital to enjoy the first unrestricted Halloween celebrations in three years since Covid regulations were lifted.
But instead they found themselves caught up in a terrifying stampede as the festivities had attracted a dangerous amount of people.
Tragically, at least 153 people were declared dead with a further 82 injured – 19 of those seriously.
Of those killed, 97 were women and 57 were men. Four victims were just teenagers, while 96 were in their 20s, South Korea’s Interior and Safety Ministry reported.
South Korean officials said the deaths included 26 foreigners from China, Iran, Russia, France, the US, Australia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Austria, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Norway.
The US embassy in Seoul has confirmed two US citizens were among those killed.
Witnesses say the crowd became increasingly “agitated” as the evening went on.
Shortly before 10.20pm, the situation became out of control as a stampede broke out as people were forced down the tight, sloped alleyway after it was already packed wall-to-wall with people.
Those at the top of the 41 metre long pathway started to fall, sending people below them toppling over others.
Panicked revellers became trapped and struggled to breathe before many went into cardiac arrest.
Horrifying footage shared on social media showed some people trying to scale the sides of the buildings to escape the increasing pressure, as others desperately cried out for help.
One witness described the number of bodies piling up as looking like a “tomb”.
Despite the horror unfolding just 97 metres from the closest fire station, emergency workers were faced with a battle to reach victims because of traffic congestion and overcrowding.
One 14-year-old girl said she frantically called police twice asking for help during the evening, but their concerns went unanswered.
Seo Na-yeon said she and her friends felt the size of the crowd was already dangerous when they arrived in the area at 6pm, reports the New York Times.
She told authorities traffic control was needed, but said she saw no police officers managing crowds – despite some in the area moving street vendors along.
After becoming caught in the huge mass of people in the narrow alley, Seo and her friends once again phoned cops and begged them to intervene.
But police reportedly did not get involved in the stampede until it became fatal.
Videos shared online showed a pile of bodies wedged between buildings, some at the bottom appearing unconscious, while others reached out to medics who grappled to free them from the crush.
Rescuers were filmed trying to pull people trapped underneath dead bodies as field hospitals were thrown up to deal with hundreds of casualties.
Survivors were also seen strewn across the pavement wrapped in foil blankets to stay warm following the crush.
Police said scores of people were being given CPR on the streets while many others were taken to nearby hospitals.
Stressed families frantically phoned authorities for updates as hundreds filed missing person reports.
One dad received a heartbreaking call from authorities at 1am, saying his daughter in her 20s had been killed.
He told Reuters: “This news came like a bolt from the blue sky.”
The disaster is the country’s deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.
As of midday, Interior Ministry Lee Sang-min said at least 90 per cent of the victims had been identified, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards.
Heartwrenching pictures of the aftermath show costumes and personal belongings covered with blood spots left in the narrow street.
But 24 hours before, there were already warning signs that the festivities were attracting dangerous numbers of people.
Although detailed disaster prevention plans are required for large events such as festivals, such protocols do not apply to public spaces where huge crowds are expected – meaning there is no clear agency in charge.
Kim Dae-jin, professor of safety engineering and disaster mitigation studies at Woosuk University, said safety plans should be put together when it is known thousands of people are set to descend on the same place.
He said: “Even if there is no event organiser, if a large number of people are expected to participate as they were for this event, it seems necessary for relevant institutions to take pre-emptive measures to strengthen their prevention efforts based on the potential risk for disaster.”
‘A tragedy and disaster’
Victims and their relatives had questioned an apparent lack of crowd control.
Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene: “You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that.”
With the easing of the Covid pandemic, curfews on bars and restaurants and a limit of ten people for private gatherings were lifted in April. An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.
Professor Lee Young-ju from the Department of Fire and Disaster at the University of Seoul said the disaster could have been “prevented or controlled”.
He told broadcaster YTN: “District events held by local governments or institutions have to have safety plans and measures if more than 1000 people are expected to participate.
“But this was a district event without a specific organiser, lacking the safety control function.
“This was a disaster that could have been controlled or prevented.
“But this was not taken care of, with no one taking the responsibility in the first place.”
Interior Ministry Lee Sang-min said police had deployed additional personnel as they did not expect Halloween crowds to be much larger than in other years.
He said that cops were focused on controlling crowds at large-scale protests in other areas of Seoul on Saturday.
In the wake of the incident, venues across the country have decided to pull the plug on Halloween-themed events.
Devastated relatives and friends of victims have left floral tributes at the scene.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday, describing the crush as “truly tragic”.
He said: “A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.”
This story was published by The Sun and reproduced with permission.
