Nfter the mass panic in the South Korean capital Seoul, the number of fatalities has risen to 153 people, according to the latest information. This was reported by the public broadcaster KBS on Sunday evening (local time), citing the fire department. The government announced a thorough investigation into the disaster.
According to the fire department, 26 foreigners were among the fatalities, and the Interior Ministry gave the number as 20. According to the information, the victims came from China, Iran, Russia, the USA, France, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Norway, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Austria. The current number of injured was therefore given as 103, after previously there had been talk of more than 80 injured people. More than a dozen people were seriously injured.
The government wants to find out the cause of the accident and take necessary measures to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, Prime Minister Han Duck Soo said Monday at a meeting at the Central Headquarters for Disaster Prevention and Security Operations. To this end, the government wants to ensure that affected facilities and systems are improved. Details were not initially known.
The German embassy is in close contact with the local authorities. According to the South Korean authorities, there were no German nationals among the fatalities, the embassy said. The identification of the injured was therefore not yet fully completed. A spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin also said that it was still too early for a final assessment.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared national mourning on Sunday and said the government would pay for burials for the dead and medical treatment for the injured. Politicians worldwide such as US President Joe Biden, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier reacted with dismay. Shortly after the disaster, Yoon announced that he would have the disaster investigated in detail. On Monday he visited a memorial to the victims of the accident in downtown Seoul.
Thousands of mostly young people crowded the narrow streets of the Itaewon neighborhood on Saturday night for the first Halloween celebrations since the start of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. A mass panic broke out around 10 p.m. (local time).
“There were so many people being pushed around and I got trapped in the crowd and couldn’t get out at first either,” 30-year-old Jeon Ga-eul told AFP. He had the feeling that sooner or later an accident would happen.
Credit: AP/Lee Jinman
Initially, the fire department had spoken of dozens of people with cardiac arrest. Photos and videos showed people lying on the ground being cared for by rescue workers. According to the fire department, more than 140 ambulances were on site. Police officers cordoned off the scene of the accident in the popular nightlife district.
The South Korean fire department told AFP on Sunday that the death toll has now risen to at least 151 people. Among them are 19 foreigners. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that people from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway died in the disaster.
The Foreign Office (AA) in Berlin was unable to provide any information on Sunday night as to whether Germans were also killed in the accident. It’s too early to say, an AA spokesman told AFP. The embassy is in close contact with the authorities.
Source: dpa / Lee Ji Eun
As Yonhap reported, according to the local fire department, 97 of the fatalities are women and 54 are men. According to this, there were 82 injured – the Ministry of the Interior, however, put the number of injured at 150.
In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, a doctor described chaotic scenes from the tragedy. “When I first attempted CPR, there were two victims lying on the sidewalk. But shortly thereafter, the numbers exploded, surpassing the number of first responders on the scene,” Lee said.
It is difficult to put the events into words. “The faces of so many victims were pale. I couldn’t feel their pulse or breathing, and many of them had bloody noses. When I tried to revive her, I also pumped blood out of her mouth.”
President Yoon pledged to “investigate thoroughly” the incident and ensure it never happens again. In a televised address to the nation Sunday, he said, “A tragedy and catastrophe that should not have happened has happened in central Seoul.” President Yoon inaugurated a memorial to the victims on Monday. Yoon and his wife each laid a white flower in front of a large altar erected in central Seoul to honor the victims.
The memorial was then opened to the public. Some mourners gathered in tears at the memorial. Another makeshift memorial was erected in front of a subway station in the Itaewon district of the South Korean capital, which is popular for its nightlife and where the deadly stampede happened.
Scholz shocked by Seoul’s Halloween drama
The accident caused consternation worldwide. US President Biden said the US is “standing with” South Korea at this tragic time. “We mourn with the people of the Republic of Korea and wish all those injured a speedy recovery,” the Democrat wrote on Twitter.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his condolences to the bereaved and victims of the Halloween tragedy in South Korea. “The tragic events in Seoul shock us deeply,” said the SPD politician late on Saturday evening on twitter With. “Our thoughts are with the many victims and their families. This is a sad day for South Korea. Germany stands by their side.”