On Sunday, at least 153 people were fatally crushed when a throng surged in a South Korean alleyway during Halloween celebrations, shocked family members gathered the remains, parents looked for their missing children, and a nation sought explanations.
After the accident on Saturday night, President Yoon Suk-yeol proclaimed a time of national mourning and named Seoul's well-known Itaewon neighborhood a disaster zone.
“This news came like a bolt from the blue sky,” said a father who burst into tears as he collected his daughter’s body from a morgue in the nation’s capital.
Emergency authorities said that at least 153 individuals, most of them in their 20s, were killed after a large throng that was partying in Itaewon surged into an alley. Some of the revelers were still in their teens, and many were dressed in Halloween costumes, eager to enjoy the pubs, nightclubs, and eateries where the fun frequently overflows onto the winding, frequently steep side streets.
Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, told a briefing at the scene that 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously. The deaths included 22 foreigners, he said.
Families and friends desperately sought a word of loved ones at community centers turned into facilities for missing people.
At least 90 percent of the victims had been identified by midday, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards, the Interior Ministry said.
After the accident on Saturday night, President Yoon Suk-yeol proclaimed a time of national mourning and named Seoul's well-known Itaewon neighborhood a disaster zone.
“This news came like a bolt from the blue sky,” said a father who burst into tears as he collected his daughter’s body from a morgue in the nation’s capital.
Emergency authorities said that at least 153 individuals, most of them in their 20s, were killed after a large throng that was partying in Itaewon surged into an alley. Some of the revelers were still in their teens, and many were dressed in Halloween costumes, eager to enjoy the pubs, nightclubs, and eateries where the fun frequently overflows onto the winding, frequently steep side streets.
Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, told a briefing at the scene that 82 people were injured, 19 of them seriously. The deaths included 22 foreigners, he said.
Families and friends desperately sought a word of loved ones at community centers turned into facilities for missing people.
At least 90 percent of the victims had been identified by midday, with delays affecting some foreign nationals and teenagers who did not yet have identification cards, the Interior Ministry said.
