Sun 30 October 2022:
President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea has announced a period of national mourning following a fatal Halloween crush in Seoul, where grieving family members went to the city’s hospitals in search of their lost loved ones.
In a statement released hours after 151 people died in a stampede in Seoul’s Itaewon area, Yoon stated, “This is truly tragic.”
“The government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought under control as a period of national mourning,” he said.
Fire officials said most of the victims were women and young people in their 20s and included 19 foreigners from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway.
A further 82 people were also injured, 19 of them seriously.
The Yonhap news agency referred to the tragedy, which occurred soon after 10 p.m. local time (13 p.m. GMT) as the deadliest incident of its kind in South Korean history.
It took place at the city’s first Halloween celebration in three years when COVID-19 limitations and social exclusion were relaxed. According to reports, tens of thousands of partygoers dressed in Halloween masks and costumes had traveled to Itaewon for the occasion.
Although some local media said that incident occurred when a sizable crowd of people rushed to a nearby bar after hearing that an unnamed celebrity had visited there, the reason for the crush was not immediately obvious.
GRAPHIC: At Least 151 Killed as Halloween Crowd Surge
Turns Deadly in S. KoreaS. Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning in the aftermath of a horrific Halloween crush in Seoul, which killed 151 people.#southkoreastampede #Halloween #seoul pic.twitter.com/lJC8Xl2UJS
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) October 30, 2022
Numerous persons who looked to be unconscious were being treated in a chaotic scene by firefighters and bystanders in videos and pictures taken in the immediate aftermath. Footage from later in the evening showed emergency personnel in orange vests moving even more dead on stretchers into ambulances as well as dozens of bodies laid out on the pavement covered in bed linens.
The Seoul Metropolitan administration announced on Sunday that it has received reports of 355 missing individuals as a result of the tragedy. The government had earlier sent out emergency text messages asking those in Itaewon to immediately return home.
According to the report, 60 staff members have been sent across roughly 50 hospitals to assist the victims’ grieving families.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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