At least 151 people were killed in a stampede in Seoul on Saturday during Halloween celebrations. Dozens of people were treated for heart attacks following the stampede.
This is a real drama that took place in Seoul, South Korea. 151 people, including 19 foreigners, died in the stampede in the capital on Saturday. More than 100 ambulances had to be dispatched to Itaewon district, where thousands of people were celebrating Halloween, according to Yonhap news agency.
“As of 1:30 a.m. (Sunday, 5:30 p.m. GMT Saturday), 59 people died and 150 were injured,” fire official Choi Chung-bum told reporters.
A toll, which was quickly revised upward by Choi Chung-bum, reported 120 dead shortly after, and then 146 at 4 a.m. This crowd movement is the deadliest in the last ten years. In 2015, a mass protest at the site of stone-throwing at Mina, near Mecca, killed around 2,300 people during the annual pilgrimage.
In South Korea, rescue officials talk about a heart attack until a doctor officially declares a person dead. This explains why the death toll grew so quickly, jumping from 2 to 120 people in a matter of minutes.
Disastrous crowd movement
Victims appear to have been trapped in the crowded district, where Halloween celebrations gather heavily in the South Korean capital.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has called for hospitals to be ready to rescue the injured, the presidential office said.
Photos released by Yonhap showed more than a dozen people lying on a street as rescue workers helped them, while police surrounded the crowd.
Emmanuel Macron supports Seoul
French President Emmanuel Macron sent “a moving thought to the residents of Seoul and to all Koreans” on Twitter this Saturday.
“France is on your side,” the head of state said on Twitter, while his prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, expressed her “very strong emotion.”
A moving thought this evening for the residents of Seoul and all Korean people after the Itaewon drama. France is on your side.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) October 29, 2022
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