Medical workers transport a Halloween victim on a stretcher in Itaewon district, Seoul on October 30, 2022.
Jung Yeon-Je / AFP via Getty Images
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Jung Yeon-Je / AFP via Getty Images
Medical staff transport a Halloween victim on a stretcher in Itaewon district, Seoul on October 30, 2022.
Jung Yeon-Je / AFP via Getty Images
At least 146 people were killed and 100 others injured in a spiked crowd on Saturday night, after Halloween celebrations turned deadly in the South Korean capital.
The stampede broke out in Itaewon, a district in Seoul popular among locals and foreigners alike for its international cuisine and nightlife.
An estimated 100,000 people flocked to the neighborhood to celebrate Halloween – forming the largest crowd seen in the area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local media reported that the crowd was believed to have taken place outside a main street, in a narrow alley filled with bars and restaurants.
The director of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department, Choi Seong-Beom, said the death toll could rise and that the exact number of people in critical condition is still unknown. Many victims have youthaccording to local media reports.
Emergency personnel from all over the country have been deployed to the district to treat the injured in a makeshift medical center.
Photos and videos from the scene showed first responders carrying some of the dead and wounded on stretchers, while many naked bodies lay in the streets.
President Yoon Suk Yeol called a meeting and ordered officials to deploy emergency personnel, secure hospital beds and treat the injured. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-Hoon cut short his trip to Europe to return home.
Saturday’s stampede is the deadliest known mob disaster in South Korean history. In 2005, 11 people died and more than 50 others were injured during a pop concert in the southern city of Sangju.
This is at least the second deadly crowd increase recorded this month. In early October, 125 people died near the gate at a soccer stadium in Indonesiamany of them were trampled or suffocated.
Even after last night’s tragedy, partying continues in the small streets of Itaewon in the morning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
