Halloween Crowd Crush Leaves South Korea in Grief

Just yesterday (29th October 2022), what should have been a day of celebration for Halloween ended up being a tragic night.

It's the first Halloween event in Seoul in 3 years since the restrictions for Covid, including wearing masks and social distancing, have been lifted. Costume partygoers flocked to the streets of Seoul with their Halloween costumes.

One of the most happening places is the nightlife streets in Itaewon District. The crowd was bigger than it ever was. A source reported it being 10 times bigger than before, with thousands of people present. 

Matters get worse when the costume partygoers are cramped in this narrow alley with a slope. People were rubbing shoulder by shoulder, and mobility was very limited, with the crowd barely inching anywhere. Some reported that the crowd was slowly getting agitated with the situation.

In a telephone interview between Times of India and Kim Seo-Jeong, the 17-year-old was amongst the crowd who was there. Even at just 8 PM, it was already very packed. She and her friend gave up after an hour and attempted to U-turn and walk back home, but it was impossible. There were people from both directions trying to get to the other side of it. The people behind her were pushing her down the slope, while the people in front of her were pushing her to the other side of the street.

Suddenly, a group of young men started chanting, "Push! Push!" The crowd was being shoved down the alley.

Someone in front of Kim slipped and fell, pushing Kim down. And like dominoes pieces, people begin falling, crushing the people beneath them and also being crushed by the people on top. It's estimated that it occurred around 10:20 PM.

A makeshift disaster management center was set up in the area to coordinate rescue efforts. Over 800 emergency workers and police officers were deployed to assist. However, emergency vehicles struggled to get to the area, with traffic jams and pedestrians crowding the roads.

Photos of the incident spread across social media platforms, showing how crowded it was. Normal citizens had to jump in and help the medical team to perform chest compressions as there were just too many victims. 

Reports stated that there were at least 153 dead, several in critical condition and many injured. Many of the victims are teenagers in their 20s. In the beginning, the tragedy was labelled as a stampede, but it was later clarified as a crowd crush. 

According to Aljazeera news, 

"A crowd crush is when people are packed in a confined space and keep pushing, causing the crowd to fall in a "domino effect" making it hard for people to get up again. The bigger the crowd, the stronger the effect of the crowd crush is."

This is one of the most tragic incidents in South Korea, following the Sewol Ferry tragedy. South Korea's president, Yoon Suk-Yeol, has declared a national mourning period for the tragedy. Prime minister Han Duck-soo states that South Korea will provide a fund to support the families of the deceased and injured.

*Source notes are listed here.

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