Itaewon district in Seoul, South Korea, is well-known for its annual Halloween celebrations. This year, however, the celebrations ended in tragedy.
Set to be the first no-mask-required event in Korea in three years after the Covid-19 pandemic, Itaewon tried its best to prepare for this year's Halloween celebrations, expecting over 100,000 visitors to the popular district.
Despite more than 200 police officers being dispatched to control crowds during the pre- Halloween weekend, chaos descended into tragedy on Saturday, October 29.
Between 22:15 and 22:22 PM (KST) on Saturday night, the Yongsan Fire Station in Korea received multiple reports of a human stampede at Itaewon.
Here's how the fatal crowd crush at Itaewon, which left over 150 people dead, unfolded.
What happened at Itaewon?
Itaewon is one of the popular areas in Seoul for a night out, with Halloween in particular being one of the busiest nights of the district.
Though the area tried to brace for huge crowds over Halloween weekend, tragedy unfolded on Saturday night.
People who were packed into a tight alleyway next to the landmark Hamilton Hotel began falling on top of each other as crowds started to push.
This situation started escalating quickly, as people in the alleyway were caught between crowds coming out of the hotel and those leaving the Itaewon subway station exits 1 and 2.
Amid a sea of people, around 50 victims began showing signs of suffocation and cardiac arrest, which is when the first reports of the crowd crush were made to the Yongsan Fire Station.
As the situation worsened, emergency officials received at least 81 calls from people in the crowds complaining of breathing difficulty.
Though more than 140 first responder vehicles were mobilised to handle the situation, emergency workers struggled to access the scene of the crowd surge.
The situation was made worse by unknowing partygoers who - unaware of the tragedy unfolding - took to the streets dancing and singing, blocking access and causing traffic jams.
Due to lack of space and personnel, emergency medical teams had to start administering CPR to victims at the scene itself, with disturbing footage on Twitter showing many lying on the streets to receive treatment.
By around 3am, the South Korean National Fire Agency confirmed 120 deaths and 100 injuries from the crowd surge.
What was the aftermath of Itaewon crowd surge?
As of Monday, October 31, the death toll from the Itaewon crowd surge stands at 154 people.
Most of the casualties were youngsters in their teens and early 20s, with 26 of them being foreign nationals. Victims were from countries including the United States, China, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, Norway, France, Russia, Austria, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Education, six school students and three teachers are among the dead.
The Seoul city government has also said that over 4,000 missing people reports had been received.
Personnel were dispatched to make three rounds around Itaewon, though police have said there is no active search for missing person as they believe no one actually went missing from the scene.
The Yongsan Fire Station has dismissed any speculation that the incident was caused by a gas leak.
On Sunday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning
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