Tragedy in Seoul

Written by: Rubi Orellana

As the nation mourns, a look at how a fun night turned deadly in Seoul, South Korea.

During a Halloween celebration Saturday night, a tragic crowd surge in South Korea killed many. As the grim task of identifying the dead nears completion, attention shifted to questions about how this happened. Many question if any precautions could have been taken to avoid this.

Officials said that by Sunday afternoon, at least 141 of the more than 150 people killed in the disaster had been identified. Cries and screams punctured the quiet wait at a community center where family members had been waiting for news, as the dreaded confirmations arrived one by one that their loved ones were gone.

South Korean officials, from the president, to ministers, and the mayor of Seoul, held many briefing. However, they offered no real explanation for the country's worst peacetime disaster in nearly a de

cade. The vast majority of those killed in a narrow alleyway in Itaewon, a popular nightlife destination, were in their teens and twenties. The victims were mainly female, with women outnumbering men by a large margin. According to authorities, those who remained unidentified were mostly minors or foreign nationals. The injured are being treated at fifty-nine hospitals throughout the greater Seoul area, with nineteen reported to be in critical condition earlier in the day.

Important facts to know:

• Witnesses reported seeing almost no crowd control and scant police presence in the hours leading up to the tragedy, which occurred on the city's first Halloween weekend after pandemic-related social distance measures had been lifted.

• According to a government minister, officials did not anticipate larger crowds than there usually were in past years.

• Prior to the tragedy, police resources were diverted due to large political rallies elsewhere in the city.

• President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared a week of national mourning. His government declared the site a disaster area and promised assistance to victims' families.

People "fell like dominoes," according to a 17-year-old survivor, after a group of young men shoved down a narrow hill that had been packed for hours. Another witness described a "sea of bodies" rushing toward her, which she later realized was a panic reaction as the tragedy unfolded.

• At least two Americans were killed, as well as people from China, Iran, Norway, and Uzbekistan. Itaewon, Seoul's most diverse neighborhood, has long been a sought-after haven for those who are different.