National mourning is observed in South Korea following the 151 deaths in the Halloween stampede.
It was the city’s first Halloween celebration in three years following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and social exclusion. Most of the partygoers wore masks and costumes for Halloween.
During Halloween celebrations, Seoul, South Korea, witnessed hundreds of cardiac arrests as tens of thousands jammed the Itaewon neighborhood’s winding streets. According to local authorities, there were at least 151 fatalities and more than 150 injuries. A fire department spokesman was quoted by AFP as saying that more than 140 ambulances had been sent to the location.
According to the fire department, the Yonhap news agency claimed that about 50 people were having cardiac arrests. 19 foreigners were among those killed in the incident. They came from Norway, China, Uzbekistan, and Iran.
The event appears to have resulted from a crush brought on by the size of the crowd in Itaewon, a renowned Halloween destination in the capital of South Korea.
Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea, has instructed officials to send first aid teams and make hospital beds quickly accessible.
immediate first aid
More than a dozen victims seemed to be laying face down on a street that had been blocked off by police in pictures shared by Yonhap, with rescue workers appearing to be attending to some of them.
As rescuers rushed to save more victims, individuals could be seen providing emergency first aid to numerous victims who looked to be lying on the street in video footage from the scene of the crash.
Rescue workers loaded casualties, some of whom were covered with blankets or other coverings, into ambulances as yellow-jacketed policemen surrounded the scene of the crash.
On the side of the road, about twenty people were completely covered by improvised blankets.
A comprehensive investigation was requested by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday after he said that a fatal stampede at the Halloween celebration should not have happened.
Yoon said in a national address that a catastrophe and disaster occurred in the center of Seoul that should not have happened and vowed to thoroughly investigate the incident to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
He also commanded the lowering of the flags and the declaration of a time of national mourning.
From today until the accident is brought under control, the government will declare a time of national mourning and give administrative matters related to recovery and follow-up measures a priority.
Hundreds of people were jammed into the tight, sloping lane, crushed and immovable as emergency personnel and police attempted to extricate them, as seen in social media footage.
The lone little alley’s congestion, according to Choi, the Yongsan district’s fire chief, was likely the root of all the fatalities.
According to witnesses and fire officials, people were still pouring into the lane, which was now completely crowded, when those at the top of the slanted street fell, causing those below them to topple over one another.