Halloween stampede in Seoul: Families identify lost items as South Korean police admit mistakes

Grieving families on Tuesday looked through tidy rows of items left at the scene of the horrific street crush in Itaewon in a massive gymnasium in Seoul. Officials accompanied the family members in small groups and one by one into the gymnasium to check and claim organised possessions.

As many as 100,000 people packed into the congested streets of Itaewon on Saturday night to celebrate Halloween, killing 156 people—including 26 foreigners—in the crush. South Korea is currently in deep grief about the incident.

Yoon Hee-Keun, the head of the National Police Agency, admitted to failing to appropriately respond to the pouring emergency calls into the police contact centre before the tragedy when speaking to the media on Tuesday.


Four hours before the tragedy on Saturday night, Itaewon residents called the South Korean police with at least 11 reports of suspected crushes.

About 137 personnel were sent to Itaewon that night, according to the director of the agency's violent crime investigation section, Oh Seung-jin. However, the police on the site were entrusted with stopping any criminal activities, such as drug use and sexual offence, in the neighbourhood.

President Yoon Suk Yeol emphasised the necessity of setting up procedures to stop repeat disasters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.

FAQs

1) How many people attended the Halloween celebration in Seoul?
Ans: 100,000

2) How many people died in the crash incident in South Korea?
Ans: 156