Stunned in South Korea, at least 151 people, including 19 foreigners, have died in Seoul, and some 76 others were injured, apparently in a stampede at a Halloween party between Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 October 2022, according to the latest report from the fire department.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol promised Sunday a “rigorous” investigation into the stampede that killed at least 151 people the previous evening in central Seoul, where tens of thousands of mostly very young revelers were celebrating Halloween for the first time after the pandemic.
Lamenting “a tragedy and disaster that should not have happened,” Yoon Suk-yeol promised that his government would “rigorously” investigate the causes of the disaster, one of the worst in South Korea’s recent history, and ensure that it “does not happen again.”
“I have a heavy heart and it is difficult for me to contain my grief,” added the head of state in a televised address, who went to the scene of the tragedy on Sunday morning, wearing the green jacket of the emergency services, and declared national mourning.
Bodies lined up on the sidewalk under blankets or other makeshift shrouds, heart massages performed in the street by passers-by at the request of overworked firefighters, people in disguises or in party clothes running in panic: the night turned into a nightmare in the district of Itaewon, located near a former U.S. military base and known for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, its bars and party places of all kinds in a maze of narrow streets.
