A large mass of mostly young people celebrating Halloween in Itaewon, Seoul were trapped and crushed as a crowd surged into a narrow alley. It killed at least 151 people and injured 100 others. It is South Korea’s worst disaster in years.
Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying in the streets after the crush in the capital’s leisure district of Itaewon on Saturday night.
Those killed or hurt were mostly teens and people in their 20s, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department.
The Itaewon dead included 19 foreigners, he said, whose nationalities weren’t immediately released. The death toll could rise further as 19 of those injured were in critical condition.
Videos show body bags on the streets, emergency workers performing CPR, and rescuers trying to pull people trapped beneath others, the BBC reported.
“There were reportedly 100,000 revelers in the area celebrating the first outdoor no-mask Halloween event since the pandemic,” the BBC added. “Social media messages posted earlier in the evening show some people remarking that the Itaewon area was so crowded that it felt unsafe.”
The BBC’s original title on Twitter read, “Dozens of people in Halloween crowds treated for cardiac arrest in nightlife area of South Korean capital Seoul.” The started the conspiracy theories so they changed the ridiculous headline of the tragedy in Itaewon.
The clips are very graphic and upsetting. In tragic irony, Halloween is the devil’s holiday.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – At least 149 people, mostly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, were killed in South Korea when a crowd celebrating Halloween surged into an alley in a night-life area of Seoul https://t.co/ZBB3cKhxO5 pic.twitter.com/evlVibGuUw
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 29, 2022
#BREAKING: Stampede in #Seoul, #SouthKorea left dozens with cardiac arrest during #Halloween Saturday night. Over a hundred thousand attended the celebrations.#SeoulStampede pic.twitter.com/y8AW5LCFgB
— Media Warrior (@MediaWarriorY) October 29, 2022
Graphic content warning.
Dozens have died in a Halloween street party crush in Seoul, South Korea. Media is reporting the number deceased to be in excess of 100. pic.twitter.com/FjfTCpmJ6D
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 29, 2022
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