SEOUL: At least 155 people were reported killed and hundreds others injured in a stampede that occurred Saturday night at Itaewon, a district of the South Korean capital Seoul, during Halloween gatherings, in what has been reported as South Korea’s worst disaster in years.
Those killed or hurt were mostly teens and people in their 20s, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department. The dead included 19 foreigners, he said, whose nationalities weren’t immediately released. The death toll could rise further as 19 of those injured were in critical condition.
Also read: At least 100 people killed in car bombs in Somalia: president
Reports gathered from local authorities as well as media quoted South Korea’s Yonhap news agency saying fire at least 149 people, including two foreigners, were confirmed dead, and 76 others were injured, 19 of them seriously when the incident was first came to light.
https://twitter.com/league_of_india/status/1586546471230660608
Police said several large Halloween gatherings were taking place at Itaewon where roughly 100,000 people participated at the time of incident.
Shortly after the stampede took place, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol convened two emergency meetings and ordered officials to secure enough hospital beds for the injured, establish an accident management headquarters, and properly deal with the aftermath including identifying the dead and investigating the cause of the accident. ■
