Revellers die in city’s Halloween night crush
At least 120 people have died and more than 150 have been injured after being crushed by a large crowd on a narrow street during Halloween festivities in the capital Seoul, South Korean officials said last night.
Choi Cheon-sik, an official from the National Fire Agency, said around 150 people were reported as injured during the crowd surge last night in the Itaewon leisure district, and around 50 were being treated for cardiac arrest.
Choi said it was believed that people were crushed to death after a large crowd began pushing forward in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul.
He said more than 400 emergency workers and 140 vehicles from around the nation, including all available personnel in Seoul, were deployed to the streets to treat the injured.
TV footage and photos from the scene showed ambulance vehicles lined up in streets amid a heavy police presence and emergency workers moving the injured in stretchers.
Emergency workers and pedestrians were also seen performing CPR on people lying in the streets.
Some local media reports earlier said the crush happened after a large number of people rushed to an Itaewon bar after hearing an unidentified celebrity visited there.
Around 100,000 people had flocked to Itaewon streets for Halloween festivities, the biggest in years following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions.