INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
At least 149 people, mostly teenagers and young adults in their 20s, were killed in a crush when a huge crowd celebrating Halloween surged
into an alley in a nightlife area of the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday night, emergency officials said.A further 65 people were
injured in the melee in Seoul&s Itaewon district, Choi Sung-beom, head of the Yongsan Fire Station, said in a briefing at the scene.Nineteen
of the injured were in serious condition and receiving emergency treatment, the officials said, adding the death toll could rise.It was the
first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after the country lifted COVID restrictions and social distancing
Many of the partygoers were wearing masks and Halloween costumes, Reuters reported.Some witnesses described the crowd becoming increasingly
unruly and agitated as the evening deepened
The incident took place at about 10:20 p.m
(1320 GMT).&A number of people fell during a Halloween festival, and we have a large number of casualties,& Choi said
Many of those killed were near a nightclub.Many of the victims were women in their twenties, Choi said.Witnesses described chaotic scenes
moments before the stampede, with the police on hand in anticipation of the Halloween event at times having trouble maintaining control of
the crowds, read the report.Moon Ju-young, 21, said there were clear signs of trouble in the alleys before the incident.&It was at least
more than 10 times crowded than usual,& he said.Social media footage showed hundreds of people packed in the narrow, sloped alley crushed
and immobile as emergency officials and police tried to pull them free.Choi, the Yongsan district fire chief, said all the deaths were
likely from the crush in the single narrow alley.Other footage showed chaotic scenes of fire officials and citizens treating dozens of
people who appeared to be unconscious.Fire officials and witnesses said people continued to pour into the narrow alley that was already
packed wall-to-wall, when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.An unnamed woman who
said she was the mother of a survivor said her daughter and others were trapped for more than an hour before being pulled from the crush of
people in the alley.A Reuters witness said a makeshift morgue was set up in a building adjacent to the scene
About four dozen bodies were carried out later on wheeled stretchers and moved to a government facility to identify the victims, according
to the witness.The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on
Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.&You would see big crowds at Christmas
and fireworks … but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that,& Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters from the scene.Two foreigners
were among the dead, and others were transferred to nearby hospitals, Reuters reported.U.S
President Joe Biden and his wife sent their condolences and wrote: &We grieve with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our best
wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured.& read moreBritish Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: &All our thoughts are with
those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time.&With the easing of the COVID pandemic, curfews on bars and
restaurants and a limit of 10 people for private gatherings were lifted in April
An outdoor mask mandate was dropped in May.Authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident.According to Reuters the
disaster is among the country&s deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.The sinking of the
Sewol, and criticism of the official response, sent shockwaves across South Korea and prompted widespread soul-searching over safety
measures in the country that are likely to be renewed in the wake of Saturday&s crush.President Yoon Suk-yeol presided over an emergency
meeting with senior aides and ordered a task force be set up to secure resources to treat the injured and to launch a thorough investigation
into the cause of the disaster.The post Halloween stampede in Seoul leaves at least 149 dead first appeared on Ariana News.
