The death toll from the Halloween stampede tragedy in Seoul has risen to 153 as witnesses speak about watching friends and strangers suffocate.
At least one Australian is among the dead in the wake of a stampede in central Seoul after thousands of people crowded into narrow streets to celebrate Halloween.
The Australian Embassy in Seoul said it had been notified of the death on Sunday. Consular officials are providing assistance to the deceased’s family in Australia, and to other Australians who attended the event, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) said.
“The Australian government sends its condolences to the family and others affected by this tragic incident,” a DFAT spokesperson said.
“We ask for the family’s privacy to be respected during this difficult time.”
Stream your news live & on demand with Flash. From CNN International, Al Jazeera, Sky News, BBC World, CNBC & more. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer available for a limited time only >
Nathan Taverniti, an Australian who survived the incident, spoke to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and identified himself as a friend of the victim, a 23-year-old woman.
“I just can’t believe it. I was in the front of where it happened,” Mr Taverniti said while wiping away tears in front of Soonchunhyang University Hospital, where the bodies of some victims were located.
“All I could see was a wall of people.”
He said it had been “impossible” to save his friend.
“People need to know how bad it was and how little help there was,” said Mr Taverniti.
He said he had spent Sunday desperately trying to find her body.
“I don’t know where she is,” he said.
“I can’t find any info ... the consulate doesn’t know where she is.”
Mr Taverniti spoke further in a video posted on TikTok, condemning the slow response from South Korean authorities. He claimed it took half and hour for police to attend the scene, and even longer for other emergency services to arrive.
“I was there when she said she couldn’t breathe,” he said through tears.
“There was no stampede. It was a slow and agonising crush.
“My friends were being crushed in front of me and I couldn’t do anything about it.
“This crush was not caused by drunk people. It was a lack of planning (from the) police force and emergency services, and nobody was willing to help.
“I watched as people sang and filmed and laughed while my friends were dying, along with many other people.
“Nobody was doing anything to make the crowd stop.”
“The shorter people couldn’t breathe”
Olivia Jacovic, a 27-year-old Aussie living in Seoul, was caught up in the stampede and spoke to Channel Nine about how she managed to escape.
“It was really hard, I had bruises on my arms from trying to manoeuvre out but we got on the sidelines luckily and we were standing up on this brick wall and we could see above,” she said.
“It was just shoulder-to-shoulder, people couldn’t breathe the shorter people were trying to look up in the air to get some air.
“I just wanted to get out of there... I don’t care that my clothes were getting ripped.”
At least 153 people were killed in the incident on Saturday and some 150 were injured. Fire Department official Choi Seong-beom said the stampede took place around 10.22pm in the South Korean capital, and that many of the victims were trampled to death.
“The high number of casualties was the result of many being trampled during the Halloween event,” Choi said, adding that the death toll could climb.
‘19 foreigners’ among the victims
Details remain scant, with authorities struggling to identify the victims, but in a live update on Sunday afternoon Australian time South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol confirmed that at least 15 foreigners had been killed.
That number include people from Iran, Norway, China and Uzbekistan, Yongsan Fire Dept Chief Choi Seong-bum confirmed.
Earlier, a DFAT spokesperson told news.com.au the Australian Government was “urgently” trying to find out if any Australians had been impacted.
“The Australian Government sends its deepest condolences to those affected by this tragic incident,” the spokesperson said.
“The Australian Embassy in Seoul is urgently making enquiries with local authorities to ascertain whether any Australians are involved.
Australians concerned about the welfare of loved ones can call DFAT’s Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. Those outside Australia can call +61 2 6261 3305.”
Seoul authorities said they had received 2642 reports for missing people.
Period of mourning announced
The South Korean President also announced a period of mourning as the nation wakes up to the full scale of the unfolding tragedy, with the death toll rising to 153.
He wished the injured “speedy recoveries” and described his sorrow over the “miserable” disaster.
He said the government “will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and make fundamental improvements to ensure the same accident does not occur again in the future”.
Officials early on Sunday morning said some victims had been difficult to identify because of their Halloween costumes and due to many not carrying identification with them.
Earlier, they said 50 people were in cardiac arrest and that more than 140 ambulances were dispatched to the scene to aid the victims.
The district of Itaewon is a popular destination for people celebrating Halloween in the city.
President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered officials to dispatch first aid teams and to swiftly secure hospital beds for those affected, the presidential office said.
Video footage from the scene of the crush showed people performing emergency first aid on several victims who appeared to be prone on the pavement, while rescue workers rushed to help others.
In the moments before the crush, video taken from people inside the crowd showed dozens of people yelling for help as pressure from those around them built up.
Doctor tells of the tragedy
In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to the victims described scenes of tragedy and chaos.
“So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath and many of them had a bloody nose.
“When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths.”
AFP photos showed scores of bodies on the pavement covered by bed sheets, and emergency workers dressed in orange vests loading even more bodies on stretchers into ambulances.
Witnesses describe horror scenes
Those who were there as the tragedy unfolded have recalled fearing for their life.
“There were so many people that we couldn’t move … It looked like I would have died if I had fallen,” a 46-year-old told the New York Times.
Another wrote on Twitter: “People kept pushing down and more people were crushed down”.
Someone else said: “People crushed under the crowd were crying and I thought I would be crushed to death, too, breathing through a hole and crying for help”.
One of the survivors recalled people toppling over “like dominoes” after being pushed over.
They said they were trapped for about an hour and a half before being rescued, as people called out for help.
Another survivor said he saw five or six men push into others which caused one or two to begin falling, according to Seoul-based newspaper Hankyoreh.
Yellow-jacketed policemen formed a cordon around the site of the crush, with rescue officials loading victims — some of whom were covered with blankets — into ambulances.
Around two dozen people were entirely covered by makeshift blankets on the roadside.
Emergency workers carried them off on wheeled stretchers to waiting ambulances.
This year’s Halloween celebration is the first since the pandemic broke out in 2020 at which South Koreans have not been mandated to wear face masks outdoors.
What caused tragedy
While authorities said they were investigating the exact cause of the incident, some officials have blamed the crowd surge for the deaths, which has been described by a local fire official as a “presumed stampede”.
Local shopkeepers told AFP that the number of people at the annual celebration was “unprecedentedly large” this year – the first event to be held without Covid-19 restrictions since the pandemic began.
“There were so many people just being pushed around and I got caught in the crowd and I couldn’t get out at first too,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP.
As questions began to emerge over the lack of security at the event, interior minister Lee Sang-min told a briefing that the police force had been occupied on the other side of town.
“I am not certain about the exact number of police personnel deployed (to Itaewon) but a considerable number had been deployed at Gwanghwamun where a large crowd was expected for a protest,” he said.
Several reports suggested many victims suffered cardiac arrest and breathing trouble, with initial reports of people being “buried” beneath the crowds just before 10.30pm (local time). Chief of the Yongsan-gu Fire Department, Choi Seong-bum, said there was no gas leak or fire linked to the deaths.
He said most of the casualties were teenagers and people in their 20s.
More than 1700 emergency response forces were dispatched, including 517 firefighters, 1100 police officials and around 70 government workers.
The Itaewon district is popular with young South Koreans and expatriates alike, its dozens of bars and restaurants packed on Saturday for Halloween after businesses had suffered a sharp decline over three years of the pandemic.
“You would see big crowds at Christmas and fireworks … but this was several ten-folds bigger than any of that,” Park Jung-hoon, 21, told Reuters.
The disaster is among the country’s deadliest since a 2014 ferry sinking that killed 304 people, mainly high school students.
– with AFP
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrGWcp51jrrZ706uYr52cZMGzrdWeo2atoJmutbHSaKCnm5mZsq%2FA0miYrWWcmq60wIxqaWlloJq8sbjEZqKipJyasW61zWafmqScpMSmsc1mqq2ZnaWypbGOp5ywq12owbC%2B2Ghqa2llabF6f8VxmWqZlGuFd62UnG9umWZrhnWxxHCdmw%3D%3D