At least 151 people died, including 19 foreigners, while nearly 140 others were injured in a stampede in the South Korean capital Seoul on Saturday, October 29, during Halloween festivities.
Thousands of people had gathered in the Itaewon district, known for its nightlife, to celebrate the event, which quickly turned deadly.
At this stage, it seems that many people, caught in crowd movements, fell on top of each other in a narrow street, Chief of the Yongsan fire station, Choi Sung-beom, told AFP.
He specified that 140 ambulances had been deployed to the scene.
The Moroccan Embassy in South Korea said on Sunday that no Moroccan national was among the stampede.
Among the foreigners killed were people from Iran, Uzbekistan, China, and Norway, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Two Russians are also among the dead, according to the TASS agency.
The number of victims could still rise as rescue operations continue. According to the Seoul authorities, 355 people were reported missing early Sunday morning.
Photographs published by Yonhap showed more than a dozen people lying in streets, with rescuers giving heart massages and CPR to some of them as police kept the crowd at bay through security cordons.
Video footage also showed about 20 bodies covered with sheets or blankets, presumed to be of the deceased. Other victims were evacuated on stretchers to ambulances.
This Sunday, October 30, South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl heading the crisis unit decreed a national mourning with immediate effect in tribute to the victims of the tragic crowd surge.
In his address, Yoon deplored the “tragic” event that “should never have happened,” saying: “My heart is heavy and I struggle to overcome my grief.”
“This is an unprecedented tragedy. We must accurately establish the cause of the accident,” the leader of the People’s Power Party, Chung Jin-suk, wrote on Facebook.
Leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, said he was “shocked and devastated.”
“We must focus on the rapid identification of victims, support bereaved families, as well as on the recovery of injured people.”
The mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, shortened his tour in Europe that began on October 21, and returned to the Asian country following the incident.
President of the United States, Joe Biden, sent his condolences to Seoul.
“We mourn with the people of the Republic of Korea and send our wishes for a speedy recovery to all those who have been injured,” he said in a statement, adding that the United States “stands with South Korea during this tragic time.”
“I am terribly shocked and deeply saddened [by this accident] that took too many precious lives, including those of young people who had their future ahead of them,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The president of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, also offered his “deep condolences” in a message to the South Korean president.
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