Most weekends, the narrow alleys of Itaewon, the neon-lit nightlife district in South Korea’s capital Seoul, are busy with partygoers and tourists. Now it’s the site of one of the country’s worst disasters.
On Saturday night, tens of thousands of people flooded into the area in central Seoul to celebrate Halloween – but panic erupted as the crowds swelled, with some witnesses saying it became hard to breathe and impossible to move.
Through Sunday, the number of dead climbed to 154, with dozens more injured. Authorities have now launched an urgent investigation to find out how what was supposed to be a night of celebration went so horribly wrong, as families across the country mourn and search for missing loved ones.
Here is what we currently know.
Why were there such large crowds?
Halloween has long been a popular event in Itaewon, especially in recent years when the holiday gained popularity in Asia. For the festivities, some people even fly into Seoul from other nearby nations.
However, because to pandemic limits on crowd numbers and mask requirements, celebrations have been subdued for the past two years.
For many excited participants in Seoul as well as for foreign visitors including foreign residents and tourists, Saturday night marked the first Halloween since the government relaxed these limitations.
The area's hotels and ticketed activities were fully reserved months in advance, and big crowds were predicted.
What took place?
Before the mob turned deadly, witnesses told CNN that there was little to no crowd control.
Videos and images shared on social media show a crowded street with people standing shoulder to shoulder.
For that location and for residents of Seoul, who are used to crowded streets and subways in a city of roughly 10 million, crowds are not unusual.
According to one eyewitness, it took some time for people to recognise something was wrong because the music blasting from the nearby clubs and pubs competed with people's frantic screams.
Authorities went to the area as soon as the first emergency calls started coming in about 10:24 p.m., but the sheer number of individuals there made it impossible to locate those who needed assistance.
Social media users posted videos of people applying compressions to other partygoers who were laying on the ground and awaiting medical attention.
The large-scale sensation of bewilderment and disorder was exacerbated by the thousands of people wearing Halloween costumes. A police officer was heard shouting throughout the incident, according to a witness, but several partygoers mistaken him for another guest.
Although officials reported that there were no fires or gas leaks on the scene, the reason of the crush is still being investigated.
The victims were who?
According to officials, the victims were largely young adults in their teens and early 20s. Itaewon is well-liked by foreign students and backpackers and is well-known for its nightlife and hip restaurants.
At least 26 foreign nationals were among the 154 dead, according to the authorities, with fatalities hailing from the United States, China, Iran, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Australia, Norway, France, Russia, Austria, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan among others.
According to South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, all but one of the fatalities had been identified. The Interior and Safety Ministry of South Korea claimed that 97 women and 56 men were among the fatalities.
Six children from schools, including one in middle school, were among the fatalities, according to the South Korean Ministry of Education on Monday.
Also lost were three teachers.
The number of hurt people increased to 133 as of 5 p.m. local time on Sunday (4 a.m. ET), the ministry reported, with 37 of those being critically hurt.
More than 4,000 reports of missing people, according to the Seoul city government, have been received. Multiple reports for the same person or reports made on Saturday night for those who have since been located could be included in that total.
Since no one vanished from the site, according to the police, there is no active search for individuals who have been reported missing; instead, the missing person reports have been used to help identify those who died.
What was the sanctioned reaction?
In reaction to anticipated protests there, "a large number" of police and security forces were dispatched to another area of Seoul on Saturday, according to Lee Sang-min, the minister of the interior and safety, who said this on Sunday.
He claimed that the throng in Itaewon had not been exceptionally large and that hence only a "regular" amount of security personnel had been stationed there.
More than 1,700 emergency response personnel, including more than 500 firefighters, 1,100 police officers, and roughly 70 government employees, were sent to the scene as the tragedy developed on Saturday night.
The emergency conference was called by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who asked officials to identify the dead as soon as possible.
Families, though, were still waiting to learn if their loved ones had survived hours later.
