A minimum of 151 killed and 82 others injured in a stampede throughout Halloween festivities within the South Korean capital.
A minimum of 151 folks have been killed in a stampede as Halloween celebrations have been underway on a slim avenue within the South Korean capital, Seoul, authorities have stated.
A minimum of 82 others have been injured, 19 of them significantly, within the crowd crush within the metropolis’s Itaewon district on Saturday evening.
Here’s what you have to know:
What occurred?
- The catastrophe occurred after about 10:00pm native time (13:00 GMT) on Saturday, after an enormous crowd celebrating Halloween thronged a slim alley within the leisure district of Itaewon.
- The primary requires assist got here at round 10:15pm (13:15 GMT), in response to the Yonhap information company.
- Greater than 800 emergency employees, together with 346 firefighters, and 140 rescue autos have been deployed to deal with the injured, fireplace officers stated.
- Police confirmed dozens of individuals got cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the streets, whereas others have been taken to close by hospitals.
Many killed, injured
- A minimum of 151 folks have been killed, and 82 others have been injured through the incident. Authorities stated the demise toll may improve additional as emergency crews continued rescue efforts.
- “Folks have been layered on prime of others like a tomb. Some have been step by step shedding their consciousness whereas some regarded useless by that time,” the Yonhap information company cited a witness as saying.
- Choi Seong-beom, a hearth official, stated a lot of the victims have been ladies and younger folks of their 20s.
- These killed included 19 foreigners, Choi stated. They embrace folks from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, he stated.
- A physician who administered first help to victims described scenes of tragedy and chaos. “After I first tried CPR there have been two victims mendacity on the pavement. However the quantity exploded quickly after, outnumbering first responders on the scene,” Lee Beom-suk informed native broadcaster YTN. “So many victims’ faces have been pale. I couldn’t catch their pulse or breath and plenty of of them had a bloody nostril. After I tried CPR, I additionally pumped blood out of their mouths.”
- A number of movies posted on social media appeared to indicate folks performing CPR on victims mendacity on the street. Different movies appeared to indicate dozens of individuals coated with blue plastic sheets on the roadside.
- Seoul’s Metropolitan authorities stated it has obtained reviews about 355 lacking folks following the gang crush.
Reactions
- Al Jazeera’s Musun Kim, reporting from Seoul, stated many individuals within the metropolis would keep up by the evening “with a way of shock, questioning how this might have occurred”.
- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a interval of nationwide mourning on Sunday. “That is actually tragic,” he stated in an announcement. “A tragedy and catastrophe that ought to not have occurred occurred within the coronary heart of Seoul final evening.”
- Authorities stated they have been investigating the precise reason for the incident.
- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who was on a go to to Europe, determined to return residence within the wake of the catastrophe, Yonhap reported, citing metropolis officers.
- US President Joe Biden and his spouse despatched their condolences and wrote: “We grieve with the folks of the Republic of Korea and ship our greatest needs for a fast restoration to all those that have been injured.”
- UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the incident “horrific”. “All our ideas are with these at present responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time”, he wrote on Twitter.
