South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a period of national mourning on Sunday October 30, after a Halloween stampede killed some 151 people in a packed nightlife area in Seoul.
“This is truly tragic, “A tragedy and disaster that should not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul last night.” he said in a statement.
President Yoon Suk-yeol presided over an emergency meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and to launch a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster.
Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were likely from the crush in the single narrow alley.
It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing.
“A number of people fell during a Halloween festival, and we have a large number of casualties,”
Many of those killed, women in their twenties, were near a nightclub.” Choi said.
According to emergency officials, the victims were mostly teenagers and young adults in their twenties.
Further, information confirmed that sixty-five people were injured, nineteen in critical condition in the melee in Seoul’s Itaewon district.
Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.
The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.
“We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured.”
“All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.” President Biden condoled.
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