Harrowing images of the belongings of the victims of the South Korean Halloween crush have been released for the first time since the tragedy. The incident took place on October 29 and saw 150 people lose their lives in the incident.
Pictures have now emerged showing the belongings of victims, which are being stored in a gym and include pairs of shoes and jumpers from the scene. Other images show Halloween costumes and bags amongst the wide collection of belongings left behind, reports the Mirror.
Most of the people killed in the accident were in their teens or early 20s, with women outnumbering men in the victim count. Among those who were killed in the incident were citizens from Australia, France, Norway, US, China, Uzbekistan and Iran.
In the first unmasked event since pre-pandemic times, people flocked to Itaewon to enjoy the neighbourhood's Halloween celebrations. However, the event was taking part in an alleyway that was barely 11 feet wide causing a bottleneck of people which led to it quickly becoming difficult to breathe and move.
A witness said: " The alley became clogged by about 450 partygoers, before people began to topple over like dominoes." They then heard people screaming: " “Please don’t come out, people are dying,", as the crowd powered forward to escape the squeeze.
South Korea's President, Yoon Suk Yeol, has declared a period of national mourning which is to last a week after the tragedy. It has now emerged that Seoul allocated just 137 officers to deal with all the revellers attending the Halloween festivities.
The leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Park Ji-hyun stated: “This is clearly a man-made disaster. The government must take responsibility for failing to control the crowd, even when a bigger crowd was expected this year than last.”
South Korea’s home minister, Lee Sang-min, stated that police forces were stretched thin throughout the city on the day of the incident as they had to deal with large protests rallies. He said: “I doubt that the problem in Itaewon could have been solved even if we dispatched police and firefighters in advance.”
Kim Gihyeon, a senior leader of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s governing People Power Party, said Mr Lee should 'watch his mouth,' and shifted the blamed on the local police force for failing to control the crowds.
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