South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has declared a period of national mourning following a deadly Halloween crush in the country’s capital, Seoul, as distraught relatives flocked to the city’s hospitals searching for their missing family members.
“This is truly tragic,” Yoon said in a statement on Sunday, hours after some 153 people were killed in a crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district.
“The government will designate the period from today until the accident is brought under control as a period of national mourning,” he said.
Fire officials said most of the victims were women and young people in their 20s and included 19 foreigners from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway.
A further 82 people were also injured, 19 of them seriously.
The death toll is currently made up of 97 women and 54 men, according to Choi Seong-beom, chief of Seoul’s Yongsan fire department.
The foreigners killed in the deadliest stampede in South Korea’s history include nationals from Iran, Uzbekistan, China and Norway, he added.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a national mourning period following the deadly accident.
“It’s truly horrific,” said Yoon, adding that the “tragedy and disaster should never have happened.”
Victims in their 20s accounted for the age group most affected by the accident, authorities said.
The Seoul metropolitan government said it received 355 missing reports related to the stampede.
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon cut short his trip to Europe to return home, the news agency noted, citing his office.
The stampede occurred near the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon’s entertainment zone Saturday night after a large number of people were believed to have entered a narrow alley.
Tens of thousands of people were visiting the area for Halloween parties.
It was the first Halloween event in Seoul in three years after South Korea lifted many coronavirus restrictions.
Source: Anadolu Agency
