S Korea promises ‘thorough' investigation after fatal crowd crush
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Loading... - muhammed mohammed
- 31 Oct 2022
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South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo has promised a thorough investigation into the Halloween crush over the weekend that killed more than 150 people in the capital and plunged the country into mourning.
Officials said on Monday the death toll had risen to 154, with 149 people injured, 33 of them in serious condition.
Tens of thousands of people had crowded into the narrow streets and alleyways of Seoul’s popular Itaewon district on Saturday for the first major Halloween festivities since the COVID-19 pandemic struck three years ago.
Many of the revellers were in their teens and dressed in Halloween costumes.
But chaos erupted when people poured into one particularly narrow and sloping alley, even after it was already packed, witnesses said.
On Monday morning, people laid white chrysanthemums, drinks and candles outside an exit of the Itaewon metro station, a few steps away from the site of the crush.
“It doesn’t matter how they died, or why they died. Those poor people, all at similar ages to my grandchildren, they died anyway,” said Jung Si-hoon, a retiree and a church elder, who placed an old wooden cross at the makeshift altar.
“What more should we say? We should pray for them and wish they rest in peace.”
Shops and cafés nearby were closed, and police cordoned off the site of the tragedy as they continued their investigations. Read More…
