Itaewon Halloween celebration turns deadly as crush forms

A number of people are treated on the street by emergency services. [KIM NAM-YOUNG]

 
Scores were killed or injured in Itaewon, Yongsan District, Saturday night as a deadly crush occurred during a Halloween celebration.
  
Fire authorities said that around 50 people were found in a state of cardiac arrest, which is how emergency services in Korea initially report apparent deaths.    
 

A photo shared online shows a huge crowd in Itaewon, Yongsan District, on Saturday night. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
As of 1 a.m., three deaths were confirmed.  
 
An avalanche of people — around 100,000 according to the local press — marched into the neighborhood frequented by expatriates to celebrate Halloween, which falls on Oct. 31.
 
Photos shared online showed more than a dozen bodies covered in blankets.
 
A Seoul resident caught in the crush before it turned deadly said that people were trying to leave the pedestrian street that runs down the middle of bar and restaurant area of Itaewon via side streets and were met by a rush of people trying equally hard to get in.
 

Fire engines line up on the street of Itaewon. [YONHAP]

 
He said that the crowd trying to exit on small side street next to the Hamilton Hotel was struggling to get out and panicked already when he was trying to get through. Some people, he said, were in tears.
 
"It was people fighting to leave and people fighting to get in," the witness said.
 
President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered officials to administer first aid and treat the people, the presidential office said.
 
Seoul city Mayor Oh Se-hoon cut short his visit to Europe upon hearing the reports. 

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]