A mass of mostly young people among tens of thousands who gathered to celebrate Halloween in Seoul of South Korea became trapped and crushed as the crowd surged into a narrow alley, killing at least 151 people and injuring 82 others on Saturday night, reports AP.
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 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.
Emergency workers and pedestrians desperately performed CPR on people lying in the streets after the crush in the capital’s nightlife district of Itaewon.
Around 100,000 people had gathered in Itaewon for the country’s biggest outdoor Halloween festivities since the pandemic began and strict rules on gatherings were enforced.
Witnesses say Itaewon’s streets were so densely clogged with people and slow-moving vehicles that it was practically impossible for emergency workers and ambulances to reach the alley in time to treat the injured.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
