reader Posted October 30, 2022 Posted October 30, 2022 From Thai PBS World / AFP Emergency service personnel are seen in the alley where a Halloween stampede took place late October 29, in the neighbourhood of Itaewon in Seoul on October 30, 2022. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP) (AFP) – At least 149 people were killed and scores more were injured in a stampede at a packed Halloween event in central Seoul late Saturday, officials said, in one of South Korea’s worst peacetime accidents. The crowd surge and crush happened in the capital’s popular Itaewon district, where local reports said as many as 100,000 people had gone to celebrate Halloween on Saturday night, clogging the area’s narrow alleyways and winding streets. Eye-witnesses described scrambling to get out of the suffocating crowd as people ended up piling on top of one another, with paramedics, quickly overwhelmed by the number of victims, asking passers-by to administer first aid. “There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first too,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP. “I felt like an accident was bound to happen.” The fire department told AFP that at least 149 people, including two foreigners, had been killed in the stampede, which occurred around 10:00 pm (1300 GMT). The ministry of interior said that an estimated 150 people had been injured, as of 6 am local time. “The high number of casualties was the result of many being trampled during the Halloween event,” fire official Choi Seong-beom told reporters at the scene Sunday morning, adding that the death toll could climb. AFP photos from the scene showed scores of bodies spread on the pavement covered by bed sheets and emergency workers dressed in orange vests loading even more bodies on stretchers into ambulances. “People were layered on top of others like a tomb. Some were gradually losing their consciousness while some looked dead by that point,” one eye-witness told the Yonhap News Agency. In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims described scenes of tragedy and chaos. “When I first attempted CPR there were two victims lying on the pavement. But the number exploded soon after, outnumbering first responders at the scene,” Lee said. “Many bystanders came to help us with CPR.” “It’s hard to put in words to describe,” he added. “So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath and many of them had a bloody nose. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths.” Continues at https://www.thaipbsworld.com/nearly-150-killed-in-halloween-stampede-in-seoul/ Quote
reader Posted October 30, 2022 Author Posted October 30, 2022 From the BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-63443486 Quote
Members Cany10011 Posted October 31, 2022 Members Posted October 31, 2022 This is the reason why I hate going to the West Village Halloween parade... the police set up barricades to channel traffic and it is virtually impossible to move anywhere. Quote
reader Posted February 8, 2023 Author Posted February 8, 2023 From Channel News Asia South Korea's parliament votes to impeach minister over Halloween crush SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers voted on Wednesday (Feb to impeach the interior minister over his responses to a deadly Halloween crush, setting the stage for him to become the country's first cabinet member ousted by the legislature. The impeachment motion was passed by a widely expected 179-109 margin in a secret ballot in the 300-member single chamber, where the main opposition Democratic Party holds a 169-seat majority. The support of at least 150 members of the assembly was required to pass it. The parliament's justice committee will review the motion before sending it to the Constitutional Court, which would decide whether to uphold the impeachment, a process that could take up to six months. The Democrats and other opposition parties had pushed to expel the interior minister, Lee Sang-min, urging him to bear responsibility for botched responses to the crush. The Oct 29 incident killed 159 people and injured 196 when revellers flooded narrow alleyways in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon to enjoy the first coronavirus mask-free Halloween festivities in three years. Lee and the police have faced criticism over their handling of the tragedy, especially after publicly released transcripts of emergency calls showed that many citizens warned of impending danger and called for help hours before the stampede. Quote
