(Seoul) At least 151 people, including 19 foreigners, died and many others were injured Saturday night in a stampede in central Seoul where tens of thousands of mostly very young revelers celebrated Halloween to the first time after the pandemic.
Posted at 12:26 p.m.
Updated at 10:28 p.m.
Deploring “a tragedy and a disaster that should not have happened”, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol promised that his government would investigate “rigorously” to determine the causes of the disaster, one of the most serious in history. South Korea’s recent history.
“I have a heavy heart and it is difficult for me to contain my sorrow”, added in a televised address to the nation the head of state, who went to the scene of the tragedy on Sunday morning, dressed in the green emergency rescue uniform, and declared national mourning.
Bodies lined up on the sidewalk under blankets or other makeshift shrouds, cardiac massages performed in the street by passers-by at the request of overwhelmed firefighters, people in disguise or in evening dress running in panic: the night turned into a nightmare in the Itaewon district, located near a former American military base and known for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, its bars and all kinds of party places in a maze of narrow streets.
“My friend told me: there is something terrible happening outside,” said Jeon Ga-eul, 30, who was having a drink in a bar at the time of the tragedy. “I answered him: but what are you talking about? I went out to see, and I saw people doing cardio-respiratory massages”.
PHOTO JUNG YEON-JE, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Bodies of victims covered with tarpaulins were visible on the spot.
The accident happened around 10 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Saturday near the Hamilton Hotel, located on a main avenue surrounded by steep alleys. The crowd movement killed at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners of various nationalities, 97 women and 54 men, firefighters told AFP.
The figures for the injured were divergent, with the Ministry of the Interior counting around 150 and the fire brigade 82.
Among the foreigners killed are people from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, according to the Yonhap news agency.
According to authorities in Seoul, 355 people had also been reported missing early Sunday morning.
“As in a tomb”
“People were on top of each other like in a grave. Some were losing consciousness gradually, others were obviously dead,” an unidentified witness told Yonhap.
In an interview with local TV station YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims, described scenes of chaos and horror.
PHOTO LEE JIN-MAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
“When I first attempted CPR, there were two victims lying on the sidewalk. But soon after the number exploded,” he said.
“Many passers-by came to help us perform heart massage,” he continued. “It’s hard to describe in words. […] Many of the victims had pale faces. I couldn’t take their pulse or control their breathing, and many of them had bloody noses. When I tried to revive them, blood came out of their mouths.
A video shared on Twitter by a surfer claiming to have been in Itaewon at the time of the tragedy shows hundreds of people, mostly very young and in cowboy, pirate or other attire, in a street lined with bars. The scene, calm at first, suddenly turns to confusion. Passers-by are pushed and fall on top of each other, screams are heard and a woman swears in English and shouts: “Oh my God! Oh my God ! »
PHOTO KIM HONG-JI, REUTERS
The personal effects of the victims gathered near the scene of the stampede.
Sunday at dawn in the neighborhood, dazed passers-by sat on the sidewalk, consulting their phones in the glow of red flashing lights. Others comforted themselves by hugging each other, while music still escaped from some bars, according to an AFP photographer on the spot.
First party after COVID-19
Around 100,000 people, according to local media estimates, had come to Itaewon for the Halloween holiday, the first in the South Korean capital since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which large gatherings were banned.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who happened to be visiting Europe, decided to rush back, according to Yonhap.
PHOTO YELIM LEE, FRANCE PRESS AGENCY
Many international leaders have expressed their dismay.
“We mourn with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best wishes for a speedy recovery to all those who have been injured,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
The deadliest crowd movements for ten years
The stampede that killed at least 146 people in Seoul overnight from Saturday to Sunday during a Halloween party is among the deadliest crowd movements of the past ten years.
Mecca: 2,300 dead
On September 24, 2015, a gigantic stampede at the site of the stoning of the stelae in Mina near Mecca, during the annual pilgrimage, killed some 2,300 people, the deadliest disaster in the history of the hajj.
Iran, which announced the death of 464 of its pilgrims, strongly blamed Saudi Arabia for its organization deemed faulty.
Pilgrims have explained the stampede by the closure of a road near the site of the stoning and the mismanagement by the security forces of the flow of the faithful. After Iran, Mali – with 282 dead – is the second most affected country.
South Korea: at least 146 dead
On the night of October 29 to 30, 2022, at least 146 people were killed and 150 injured in a stampede in Seoul during a Halloween party with several thousand participants in the narrow streets of a district of the southeastern capital. Korean.
Indonesia: at least 133 dead
1er October 2022, a crowd movement occurs in a football stadium in Malang (East of the island of Java) after the police wanted to repel supporters with tear gas, causing the death of 133 people, including more than one forty children.
Many victims, seized with panic, were crushed or asphyxiated trying to use closed or too narrow exit doors.
Six people, including three police officers, were indicted and the regional police chief transferred. Kanjuruhan Stadium is going to be demolished.
India: at least 115 dead
On October 13, 2013, a stampede on the sidelines of a religious festival near a temple in the district of Datia, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh (center), left at least 115 dead, trampled or drowned, and more than 110 wounded.
At the time of the accident, some 20,000 people were on a bridge spanning the Sindh River. According to local authorities, a rumor about a possible collapse of the bridge hit by a tractor generated a crowd movement.
Ivory Coast: at least 60 dead
1er January 2013, at least 60 people, including many young people, died in a stampede when a huge crowd of spectators left the Plateau administrative district in Abidjan (center) after watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks .
Iran: 56 dead
On January 7, 2020, a stampede in Kerman (southeast) during the funeral of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, in which a huge crowd participated, resulted in 56 deaths.
Soleimani, killed on January 3 by an American drone strike outside Baghdad airport, was considered a hero in the country.
Ethiopia: at least 52 dead
On October 2, 2016, at least 52 people died according to the authorities – at least 100, according to the opposition – in a crowd movement in Bishoftu (50 km south-east of Addis Ababa), after clashes with the police during the traditional Oromo Irreecha festival which marks the end of the rainy season.
Tanzania: 45 dead
On March 21, 2021, 45 people died in a stampede at the stadium in Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania, where a tribute to late President John Magufuli was held.
Israel: 45 dead
On April 30, 2021, a stampede during the pilgrimage marking the Jewish holiday of Lag B’Omer at Mount Meron in northern Israel kills at least 45, darkening the largest gathering in the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. .
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “a moved thought for the inhabitants of Seoul and for all the Korean people”.
It’s a sad day for South Korea,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted.