Seoul stampede: Emergency workers move bodies from site of deadly crush

At least 153 people have been killed and 133 others injured after crowds celebrating Halloween were crushed in an alleyway in the South Korean capital of Seoul.

Bodies were pictured lining the streets in Itaewon, a popular nightlife district, while footage showed first responders and bystanders desperately providing CPR to unconscious victims in scenes described as “like a hell”.

Emergency officials said most of the dead were teenagers or adults in their 20s who had been caught up in a crowd surge as they celebrated Halloween for the first time in three years following the lifting of Covid restrictions.

Emergency services at the scene following the crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district

Many of those caught up in the stampede suffered cardiac arrest, officials said.

Concerned relatives raced to hospitals in search of their loved ones on Sunday, with thousands of people said by authorities to have called or visited a city office to report individuals missing and establish whether they were among those injured or dead after the crush.

The bodies of the dead were being kept at 42 hospitals in the capital and nearby Gyeonggi province, according to Seoul City, which said it will tell crematoriums to burn more bodies per day to support funeral proceedings.

South Korea’s president Yoon Suk Yeol has declared a one-week national mourning period, and called for officials to thoroughly investigate the cause of the disaster and carry out reviews of the safety of other large events.

The area was busy with people dressed up for Halloween celebrations

He visited the alley in Itaewon following a televised speech in which he pledged that supporting victims’ families, including with funeral preparations, would be a top priority for his government, adding: “This is really devastating.

“The tragedy and disaster that need not have happened took place in the heart of Seoul amid Halloween. I feel heavy-hearted and cannot contain my sadness as a president responsible for the people’s lives and safety.”

The crush happened when a densely packed crowd of mostly young people began surging forward in an alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in the Itaewon district popular for its nightlife, where an estimated 100,000 people had flocked to for Halloween festivities.

The easing of Covid restrictions meant thousands had gone out to celebrate Halloween

Witnesses described chaotic scenes moments before the stampede, with the police on hand in anticipation of the Halloween event struggling to control the crowds.

Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free, with practically all available emergency workers in the capital sent to treat the injured.

But witnesses said the streets were so densely clogged with people and slow-moving vehicles that it had been nearly impossible for emergency workers to reach the alley.

One survivor said many people fell and toppled one another “like dominos” after they were pushed by others.

A man receives medical help after the crush

The survivor, whose surname was Kim, said they were trapped for about an hour-and-a-half before being rescued, as some people shouted “Help me!” and others were short of breath, according to the Seoul-based Hankyoreh newspaper.

Another survivor, Lee Chang-kyu, told the newspaper he saw about five or six men push others before one or two began falling.

“A person right next to me fell, but then people behind me continued to push me, then more people fell down and kind of piled up on one another,” a 30-year old graduate school student from Seoul told Reuters. “I screamed at people who were pushing me: ‘Don’t push! People fell!’”

She added: “I managed to escape. But if I’d stayed there just a few more minutes, then I would not have made it out, but would have died there.”

Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alleys before the crush. “It was at least more than 10 times crowded than usual,” he said.

An empty street after the dead and injured had been moved away