At least 151 people died and many others injured following yesterday night’s incident where a huge crowd of youngsters celebrating Halloween in Itaewon area of Seoul, South Korea became trapped in a narrow downhill.
Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department, said the death toll could rise further and that an unspecified number among the injured were in critical condition.
It is not clear what led the crowd to get stuck into the narrow downhill alley near the Hamilton Hotel which is a major party spot in Seoul.
Video and photos shared on social media showed firefighters and bystanders performing CPR on dozens of unconscious individuals.
Others captured the packed alleyway itself, with emergency crew seen trying to remove a woman from a pile of people stacked several rows high.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol today announced a period of national mourning and ordered the lowering of flags over a deadly Seoul stampede during Halloween celebrations that killed at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners, media reports said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent condolences to South Korea saying he was “shocked” to learn of a stampede at a Halloween celebration in the country’s capital that killed more than 150 people.
According to South Korea’s fire department, nineteen foreigners were among those killed in the stampede.
