Dozens of people in South Korea’s capital Seoul are receiving medical assistance after an incident during Halloween festivities in the city, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Yonhap reported that people suffered from “cardiac arrest,” attributing fire authorities. Emergency officials received at least 81 people in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood reporting “difficulty breathing.”
South Korean officials said around 50 people were in cardiac arrest and a number were feared dead after being crushed by a large crowd pushing forward on a narrow street during Halloween festivities in the capital Seoul.
Choi Cheon-sik, an official from the National Fire Agency, said around 100 people were reported as injured during the crowd surge Saturday night in the Itaewon leisure district and that around 50 were being treated for cardiac arrest as of early Sunday.
Choi said it was believed that people were crushed to death after a large crowd began pushing forward in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul.
He said more than 400 emergency workers from around the nation, including practically all available personnel in Seoul, were deployed to the streets to treat the injured. Officials didn’t immediately release a death toll.
Police also confirmed dozens of people were being given CPR on Itaewon streets while many others have been taken to nearby hospitals.
A local police officer said he was also informed that a stampede occurred on Itaewon’s streets where a crowd of people gathered for Halloween festivities. The officer requested anonymity, saying the details of the incident was still under investigation.
Some local media reports earlier said the crush happened after a large number of people rushed to an Itaewon bar after hearing an unidentified celebrity visited there.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement calling for officials to ensure swift treatment for those injured and review the safety of the festivity sites. He also instructed the Health Ministry to swiftly deploy disaster medical assistance teams and secure beds in nearby hospital to treat the injured.
Police, which were restricting traffic in nearby areas to speed up the transportation of the injured to hospitals across the city, also confirmed that dozens of people were being given CPR on Itaewon streets. The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued emergency text messages urging people in the area to swiftly return home.
A local police officer said he was also informed that a stampede occurred on Itaewon’s streets where a crowd of people gathered for Halloween festivities. The officer requested anonymity, saying the details of the incident was still under investigation.
Some local media reports earlier said the crush happened after a large number of people rushed to an Itaewon bar after hearing an unidentified celebrity visited there.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement calling for officials to ensure swift treatment for those injured and review the safety of the festivity sites. He also instructed the Health Ministry to swiftly deploy disaster medical assistance teams and secure beds in nearby hospital to treat the injured.
Local media said around 100,000 people flocked to Itaewon streets for the Halloween festivities, which were the biggest since the start of the pandemic following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in recent months.
Crowded Area ‘Felt Too Unsafe’.
There were reportedly 100,000 revellers in the area celebrating the first outdoor no-mask Halloween event since the pandemic.
Social media messages posted earlier in the evening show some people remarking that the Itaewon area was so crowded that it felt unsafe.
The BBC’s Hosu Lee, who visited the scene, said he saw “a lot of medial staff, a lot of ambulances, they were taking the bodies away one by one”.
Hosu Lee said there were thousands among the crowds, and a number of bodies covered in blue sheets, alongside a “ton of police”.
“A lot of young people have gathered here tonight. A lot of people came to the party and club, wearing costumes and a lot of people I’ve seen distraught and sad and there are chaotic scenes,” said Mr Lee.
Photos and videos show a number of both emergency responders and civilians attending to what appear to be unconscious people on the streets.
In one video numerous responders appear to be performing CPR on people in a narrow road in the district.
In another, emergency responders try to pull out people from what appears to be a pile of people’s bodies following a crowd surge.
Another local journalist said that an emergency broadcast had been sent to every mobile phone inthe Yongsan District urging citizens to return home as soon as possible due to “an emergency accident near Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon”.