More than 100 ambulances have been deployed to the Kapital of south Korea “Seoul”, where At least 156 people, mostly young people, were killed, and dozens injured, in a crowd on Saturday evening during the first Halloween party since the pandemic in Seoul’s popular Itaewon district. About 100,000 people were expected, but due to the unofficial nature of the event, neither the police nor local authorities actively managed the crowds, according to the report.
The President of South Korea “Yoon Suk-yeol” on Sunday October 30th promised a rigorous investigation about the stampede that left behind it at least 151 people, the night before in central Seoul, where tens of thousands of mostly very crowded revelers young people were celebrating Halloween for the first time after the pandemic.
Lamenting this tragedy and disaster that should not have happened, Yoon Suk-yeol vowed that his government would investigate rigorously to determine the causes of the disaster, and he commented that this is one of the most serious disaster in recent south Korean history. and he ensures that this wont happen again.
“I have a heavy heart and it is difficult for me to contain my sorrow “, added the head of the state in a televised address after he went to the scene of the tragedy on Sunday morning, dressed in the green jacket of the emergency relief, and declared national mourning. The crowd movement, which we do not yet know what triggered it, killed at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners of various nationalities, 97 women and 54 men, firefighters told Agence France-Presse.
Police said they deployed 137 officers to Itaewon for Halloween, while 6,500 police officers were mobilized for another protest in the South Korean capital attended by only 25,000 people, according to local media. The South Korean security forces are masters in crowd control, in a country where the numerous and frequent demonstrations are often supervised by a number of agents greater than that of the participants. But in the case of the Halloween festivities in Itaewon, there was no designated organizer.
The South Korean press agency in information relayed by RTL reported that the disaster left 89 injured people. Among the foreigners killed, 97 women and 54 men died, firefighters told AFP. Among these people, 21 are foreigners, including a Frenchman, also people from Iran, China, Uzbekistan and Norway, according to information from the South Korean press agency the Yonhap news agency. Two Russians are also among the dead, according to the Tass agency, formalized at the start of the afternoon by the Quai d’Orsay. Seoul authorities also reported in early Sunday morning that 355 of people are missing.
“It is with great sadness and very heavy hearts that we learned of the death of one of our compatriots during the tragedy in Seoul,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that it was “fully mobilized” via its crisis and support center. as well as its embassy in Seoul to accompany and support the family of our compatriot.
Several foreign victims
The majority of the victims were identified as being in their twenties. Four of them were even teenagers according to Yonhap. Among the other foreign nationals, four were of Iranian nationality, four of Chinese nationality and three of Russian nationality. There is also an American, a Vietnamese, an Uzbek, a Norwegian, a Sri Lankan, a Kazakh, a Thai and an Austrian.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Tuesday that his country must urgently improve its system of managing large crowds following the disaster. “People’s safety is important,” he said, “whether or not there is an organizer at an event,” he told a government meeting. The president called on the country to acquire “advanced digital skills” to improve its crowd management. But observers have claimed that these tools already exist and have not been employed in Itaewon, according to the point.
