Yangcheng Evening News all media reporter Fang Dong
32 police officers
Clothes stained with blood, leather shoes with detached heels, broken glasses… The 1.5 tons of lost items cleaned up in the Itaewon stampede were placed in a gym in Seoul, waiting for their owners to retrieve them.
On Saturday, more than 100,000 people flocked to Itaewon, South Korea, for the Halloween event — a gathering place of popular restaurants and nightclubs.
The joyous atmosphere came to an abrupt end in the night. In a narrow slope about 5.7 meters long and 3.2 meters wide, more than 300 people were squeezed into it in an instant, and it was only 18 square meters. Some people in the crowd began to be squeezed and trampled to the point of suffocation and cardiac arrest… Eventually 156 people died, including 4 Chinese.
This is the largest casualty incident in South Korea since the sinking of the Sewol in 2014.
On November 1, South Korean President Yoon Seok-wyeh went to the mourning place in the square of Ryksapyeong Station, Yongsan District, Seoul, to mourn the victims of the accident. He wrote in the condolence book: “The sadness and grief in our hearts are unstoppable, and we will do everything in our power to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.”
As more and more details of the incident were revealed, the public couldn’t help asking: Was the tragedy in Itaewon supposed to have been avoided?
South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said on the 1st that the stampede was caused by a shortage of security personnel and a lack of systems.
According to South Korea’s “Herald Economy”, there were 137 police officers in the Itaewon area on the day of the incident, but only 32 police officers were responsible for maintaining order and security management. South Korea’s largest opposition party said the Yongsan Police Station, where Itaewon is located, will send 700 police officers every day to protect President Yin Xiyue.
What makes people even more puzzling is that Yonhap News Agency reported that 4 hours before the stampede in Itaewon to the accident, the police had received 11 calls to the police, but only 4 calls were made, and 6 times, the police were called “there is a police officer at the scene.” No action was taken on the grounds that The nearest police station to the accident site is 130 meters away, and the fire department and emergency team are only 250 meters away.
Even if the police and ambulance crews were dispatched after the accident, the rescue work took place almost an hour after the police were called because the nearby roads were congested and blocked the passage of ambulances.
In addition, Yongsan District Office did not formulate a safety management plan or require measures such as road control. Whether crowd control measures are in place will obviously lead to different outcomes. As early as half a month ago, from October 15th to 16th, Itaewon held the “Global Village Festival”. The “Korean National Daily” said that this event attracted millions of people, because it was an event co-organized by the local government. , road and people flow control measures were taken to restrict vehicles from entering the area and guide crowds to flow in one direction.
“Unlimited Liability”
In addition to the lack of public security and institutions, the narrow roads around the accident site have long been planted. Itaewon is one of the “eight major business districts” in Seoul. However, 6 of the 14 buildings on the street in Itaewon had unauthorized expansion. Although the relevant Korean authorities had ordered the demolition, the merchants paid fines.
South Korean law stipulates that the width of the road must be more than 4 meters for “pedestrian safety”. The alley where the stampede occurred was only 3.2 meters wide. Originally, the entrance of the alley was 5.5 meters. According to Korean media reports, the adjacent Hamilton Hotel was not only built beyond the boundary line, but also built a hotel entrance (with stairs) in the middle of the alley, and built a 10-meter deeper location. The long iron fake wall turned this section of the road into a 3.2-meter narrow alley.
“Sorry, I didn’t protect the children.” After the accident, some netizens photographed a note with no signature on a utility pole near Itaewon Station.
Those named, including the director of the Korean National Police Agency, the minister of the Ministry of Administration and Security, and the mayor of Seoul, came forward and apologized. At a press conference on the 1st, South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said: “Our government bears the ultimate responsibility for national security and has unlimited responsibility.”
The crisis for the government from this disaster may be temporary, but the lessons are painful and permanent. On the 2nd, the South Korean government stated that in order to prevent the recurrence of such accidents, it will formulate comprehensive countermeasures and reform the alarm telephone response system.
Tragedy will not be lessened by the government’s efforts to remedy the situation. Those 156 people who were crushed and trampled to death were children, lovers, and parents. It was a disaster that caused them and their families to suffer endless pain.
on site
From carnival to out of control
There is a line in the Korean drama “Itaewon Class” that says: “Most people will come to Itaewon to celebrate Halloween.” Because it is the first Halloween after South Korea’s new crown pneumonia epidemic policy is released, on October 29th, About 100,000 people gathered here, originally to spend the Halloween carnival, but experienced the worst public accident in South Korea in the past 8 years.
This night, in the five-color lights of Itaewon, in the psychedelic music, crying, and screaming, some people disappeared, and some people survived.
100,000 people
Since Liu Xinran went to South Korea to study in 2019, she has fully experienced the tightening and loosening of the epidemic in South Korea.
After being suspended for more than two years, the first “no mask” Halloween event is returning to Itaewon. On October 29, the weekend before Halloween, about 100,000 people plan to have a carnival here.
These people include Liu Xinran and Wang Kun, a Wuhan native who has lived in South Korea and studied abroad for 10 years.
Wang Kun recalled that he got off the subway at 20:30, and the people here had not left the station yet, and the newly arrived subway sent out another 2,000 people. It took him and his sister an hour to walk to the subway exit in 5 minutes.
According to South Korea’s “Kingxiang News”, the passenger flow of Itaewon Station of Seoul Metro Line 6 reached 130,000 on October 29, and this value was nearly three times that of the previous Saturday, exceeding the passenger flow of the same period before the epidemic by nearly 100,000. 30%.
Crowded is Wang Kun’s only impression of Itaewon. But in his eyes, it’s not difficult to understand, the bars here are very free and open to cultures all over the world. Coupled with the promotion of Korean dramas, popularity is a matter of course. The most important point is that most of the chaebols and stars in Korea live there, and you may be able to see stars here.
Wang Kun remembered that around 22:00, the flow of people became more crowded, but “the biggest expression on everyone’s face is that they are very happy.”
confusion
No matter it is the main road in Itaewon or the small roads that go out from the subway station, it is full of people.
Lin Yue came to Yonsei University in South Korea from China to study in August this year. That night, she walked with Liu Xinran and other friends. She recalled that people on the road were close to each other, and everyone was pressing on you like a stone, and you couldn’t move at all. She saw an Asian girl, her whole body was limp, her head and arms were drooping, and she was supported by a very strong boy so she didn’t fall down. The boys wore black uniforms and looked like police officers. Lin Yue thought that the girl had been drinking too much, so she leaned over to see it, and later learned that there was a stampede in Itaewon.
The Yonhap News Agency disclosed on the program on October 31 that the police and firefighters involved in the rescue were once mistaken for passers-by who participated in Halloween costumes. There were only a few people in the middle of the road holding red sticks in the direction of the command. They were caught in the crowd and squirmed with the flow of people. “But it’s too crowded, (commanding) is useless.” Lin Yue said.
Both Lin Yue and Liu Xinran chose to hurry out at the second fork in the road. The side road next to it was crowded and sloped, while the second side road was a flat road with not so many people, but it was only after trying their best to squeeze out. Usually such a distance is only 5 to 10 minutes, and they took 50 minutes that day.
On that uphill section, Chinese student Wang Yu, like everyone else, could no longer move forward. “I panicked all over, and the scene suddenly got out of control. What I felt most panicked was that the crowd was surging like an ocean wave, hitting me, and holding me up at once, I couldn’t move, I could only push around with them. But she didn’t know what happened ahead.
She decided not to go forward, and stayed in place for a few minutes. When the crowd moved a little, she and her classmates went in the opposite direction. After going out, I saw ambulances driving in, and only then did I know that a stampede had occurred more than ten meters away from her.
At a distance of less than 5 meters from the accident site, Wang Kun noticed that something was wrong. The road was full of shoes and props such as Teletubbies’ headbands, and there were even many people lying on the ground not far away. Since there are many drinking places in Itaewon itself, his first reaction – is someone drunk?
Until he heard someone around him say there had been a stampede. Wang Kun remembered that there were about 20 people lying on the road at that time, most of them were young women, they were wearing cosplay clothes, many people’s shoes had fallen off, and there were many marks on their feet.
Wang Kun heard crying in the crowd. He and his sister didn’t dare to speak, and they were sweating coldly. The sound of disco dancing in the bar next to him was still very loud, completely overshadowing the sound of the police car.
asphyxia
“If it wasn’t for a tall boy who pulled me to a high place, I might have been squeezed to death.” Nasa, a Japanese college student studying in Seoul, narrowly escaped from Itaewon. She recalled that dark moment to reporters and said a lot “I feel like I’m suffocating” over and over again.
At about 22:15, danger came.
At that time, Nasa and her friends came out of the food street in Itaewon and walked into an alley more than 3 meters wide: “In the beginning, we were pushed down by the flow of people, and at the same time, some people went up, and we didn’t walk much. My friends and I were pushed away, and the crowd slowly froze. I heard someone shouting ‘pull together’ from behind, and a force behind me squeezed out the small gap that was originally left, and the body was tightly clamped. Almost suffocating.”
The alley where the stampede occurred, with the back wall of the Hamilton Hotel on one side and bars and shops on the other side. Nasa was trapped in a high position on the slope of the alley, and happened to be close to the stairs on one side. A boy shouted “Pull. stay”, trying to pull the person beside him up the stairs. Naisa stretched out one hand and was dragged up the stairs: “I was paralyzed on the stairs and cried for a long time, I heard someone screaming below, and several boys around me shouted, ‘Someone fell down in front, don’t push! ‘”
Very few lucky people like Nasa were rescued by chance, and many more were squeezed into the middle of the ramp with nowhere to run. According to Seoul police, 98 women were among the victims of the Itaewon stampede, far more than men. Li Songgui, president of the Korea Safety Experts Association, analyzed the Korean media SBS that if one person weighs 50 kilograms, if there are 100 people, the trapped person will bear at least 5 tons of weight, and petite and slender women are especially dangerous after being squeezed.
At around 23:00, Li Qiangni, who was also in Itaewon that night, saw many people being carried away on stretchers, and some were lying on the ground vomiting blood. A fainted young man lay on the side of the road, and dozens of rescuers were performing CPR on the wounded. Everyone tensed their lips and kept repeating the pressing action, up and down, forming a large human-shaped wave.
At 23:06, Lin Yue, who had had no signal on her mobile phone until now, received a message from a friend and learned that a stampede had occurred in Itaewon and there were casualties.
At 23:30, Liu Xinran saw that the main road was paralyzed. There were many people and cars. The road was like a sidewalk. The police couldn’t get in at that time.
Liu Xinran took the car for an hour and got into the car at 0:30 in the morning. On the way, he saw news reports that at first the death toll was 2, and the number gradually increased on the way.
After leaving Itaewon, he decided not to participate in Halloween celebrations in the future.
(In order to protect the privacy of the respondents, the characters Lin Yue, Liu Xinran, Wang Yu, Wang Kun, and Li Qiangni are pseudonyms)
Source: The Paper (with deletion)
Editor: Wu Jiahong