Crush in Korea’s Itaewon claims 149 lives, 2 foreign deaths reported
Halloween celebrations quickly turned to tragedy Saturday night in Seoul as crowds in Itaewon converged in a deadly crush.
By 5:30 a.m. Sunday, 149 deaths were confirmed by the National Fire Agency, which added that 19 of the 76 injured remain in critical condition. Most of the victims were in their 20s.
Two foreigners died and 15 were injured.
“We thought we were going to die because there were far too many people,” said Babette Vanderhaeghen, a Belgian resident of Seoul who was caught in the mayhem.
A crowd estimated at 100,000 was in the storied nightlife spot for early Halloween revelry when people departing the area ran into people arriving, coming together with tragic consequences in tightly packed alleyways.
The disaster began sometime after 10 p.m., with the first calls for help received at 10:24. Four emergency vehicles were dispatched 3 minutes later. A first-stage emergency response order was issued at 10:42 p.m., a second-stage order at 11:13 and a third-stage order at 11:50 p.m.
Between the second and third stages, emergency services from Incheon and Gyeonggi responded.
The minister of health and welfare arrived on the scene at 1:40 a.m. Sunday morning.
Most of the dead were found near the northwest corner of the Hamilton Hotel on narrow pedestrian streets in the main restaurant and bar area of Itaewon, which is in Yongsan District, central Seoul.
Casualties were taken to Soonchunhyang University Hospital, the National Medical Center, Ewha Womans University, Mokdong Hospital and Kangbuk Samsung Hospital. Dozens pronounced dead on the scene were first sent to a nearby gym so the hospitals could focus on the injured, but were rerouted to the hospitals.
Photos shared online showed bodies covered by blankets.
“It was people fighting to leave and people fighting to get in,” one witness said.
The witness, a Seoul resident, was leaving Itaewon’s main pedestrian entertainment street via a small side street next to the Hamilton Hotel. He made it through before the crush turned deadly but said that people were already panicking, with some in tears.
Another person caught in the surge noted a strange calm among those trapped, and while she was in fear, she didn’t know the magnitude of the event until she heard sirens and got calls from overseas asking if she was safe.
At 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, the area was littered with scraps of clothing and remnants of Halloween costumes. A Korean man was frantically looking for his sister. Representatives from an embassy were searching for a citizen.
President Yoon Suk-yeol held an emergency meeting at the presidential office, which is close to Itaewon. From there, he personally directed rescue operations.
“All related ministries and agencies should pull out all the stops to provide aid to the victims,” he said in a statement.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon cut short his visit to Europe upon hearing the reports.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, news programs were bringing into question the response of police and emergency services, with some saying that it was too slow and others saying it was remarkably fast. In total, 1701 police and first responders were on the scene over the course of the evening and into the morning, according to the fire department.
On Thursday, Yongsan Police Precinct said that 200 officers were being assigned to patrol the area ahead of Halloween.
BY PARK EUN-JEE, LEE HO-JEONG [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]