Halloween party in Itaewon district, Seoul, South Korea ended in disaster. CNN reported that 151 people died when visitors burst into a narrow alley in the Itaewon district on Saturday (10/29/2022).
Authorities are still investigating what caused the incident. The head of the Yongsan-gu Fire Department, Choi Seong-bum, said the incident was thought to have been caused by many being trampled on. At least 82 people were injured.
Citing the CNN page, Itaewon is the center of nightlife in Seoul. Based on a detikJabar search through the Google Maps page, there are many modern shops with colorful lighting ornaments in a narrow alley which is one of the recreational centers in the South Korean capital.
Read the detikjabar article, "This is the Location of the Narrow Alley, the Location of 151 People Killed in the Itaewon Tragedy"
Itaewon-ro is shaped like a vein, each of which will connect to a large road. The large section of this road segment is approximately four meters, with an average car width calculation of 1.7 meters - 1.9 meters.
Based on a search by detikJabar on Sunday (30/10), the Google Maps digital map page gave a special notification in the Itaewon-ro alley where the horror incident occurred which killed hundreds of people.
Until now, the exact cause of the death of visitors on Halloween night is not known. However, some experts say the deaths of the victims are related to heart attacks.
For your information, revelers flooded into the nightclub district of Itaewon on Saturday (29/10) night to enjoy the first Halloween celebrations in South Korea since crowd restrictions and face mask regulations imposed by the Covid pandemic were lifted.
Witnesses said that even before the chaos broke out, partygoers were already so crowded in the narrow streets that it was difficult to move.
"I saw people going to the left side and I saw the person going to the opposite side. So, the person in the middle was stuck, so couldn't communicate, couldn't breathe," Witness Sung Sehyun told CNN.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held an emergency meeting in the early hours of Sunday (30/10) local time. He then called for a period of national mourning 'until the handling of the accident is completed'.
"A tragedy that shouldn't have happened in downtown Seoul last night on Halloween," Yoon said.
"I pray for those who died in an unexpected accident and wish the injured a speedy recovery."
Quoted from detikNews which launched the Reuteurs report, Sunday (10/30/2022) the head of the Yongsan Fire Station reported that there were still 65 people injured in the clashes in Itaewon. Nine people are reportedly critical and receiving treatment, local officials said.
